Labor's climate change failure
As the government this week jettisoned the CPRS into the too-hard basket, I think it's worthwhile taking a look at exactly what Kevin Rudd and Labor have achieved on climate change since 2007.
When we weigh it all up, there's a big difference between the rhetoric and the reality.
Kevin Rudd ran hard on climate change in 2007, proclaiming that it was the greatest moral challenge of our time.
He commissioned the Garnaut Climate Change Review and one of the first things he did as Prime Minister was to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol.
These are all grand symbolic gestures, but if they aren't followed up by action what do they mean for this government's credentials on climate change?
Professor Ross Garnaut's recommendations for an ETS were massively watered down by Kevin Rudd in the initial CPRS design.
Then big business got involved and in order to protect their profit margins lobbied the federal government for compensation. In response, the Prime Minister further weakened the environmental credentials of the scheme.
During the parliamentary debate the government refused to negotiate with the Greens, instead focussing on securing Liberal support for the CPRS. This showed even more willingness to trade away effective action on climate change.
By the end, the government ended up with a CPRS that was going to lock in a low target that would have led to a low price and massive subsidies to the largest polluters. It would have undermined voluntary reduction actions by households, local governments and state governments. Any attempt to change the targets for the life of the scheme would have seen even more compensation for the big polluters.
The CPRS would have locked in failure, with appalling economic and environmental consequences.
A long far cry from an attempt to address 'the greatest moral challenge of our time'.
Rudd and Labor were completely silent when the wave of climate denialism hit the media, they lost even the support of the Liberals, and achieved nothing at Cophenhagen.
In the Senate the government spent more time attacking the Greens than talking to us about finding a solution.
So now Kevin Rudd and the government have dropped the CPRS and have no clear agenda to replace it.
They are still unwilling to seriously consider the Greens Safe Climate Bills or an interim carbon levy, as put forward by Professor Garnaut.
This is despite indications of overwhelming community support for the government to do so.
A report issued last week by the Rudd-aligned Grattan institute backed the Greens stance on the CPRS.
As another federal election draws closer, and Mr Rudd's and his team prepare more rhetoric for the electorate, we should bear in mind the lack of courage behind Labor's climate change convictions.
Visit here for more information about the response of the Greens to the CPRS and why we opposed it.
