I think it would be safe to assume that the majority of posters on this forum will not be voting for the ALP come the next Federal Election. No doubt one of their reasons for doing so will be “the Carbon Tax.”
Now this is where science and politics becomes a little unclear. Are those that are opposed to the Carbon Tax, opposed because of the way it was introduced, or because they don’t believe in AGW?
If they don’t believe in AGW, then who will they vote for? After all, the Coalition has a “Direct Action” policy which, just like the current Govts, “aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 5 per cent by 2020 based on 1990 levels." Why would they bother with such a policy if they didn’t believe in the effects of AGW?
However, according to Treasury, direct action initiatives alone will not do the job. They say, “A broad based market mechanism which prices carbon, is the only realistic way of achieving the deep cuts in emissions that are required.”
Some economists go further and say that the Direct Action policy is a significantly more expensive way to reduce emissions, than what could be achieved with a broad based carbon price.
What I find ironic, is the policy stance on both sides of politics.
The conservative side has adopted a policy which is basically a competitive grants program, and requires a large number of public servants to administer effectively…normally something you would expect from the left side of politics.
And yet the Labor led minority Govt has an emissions reduction policy that empowers the free market to drive the changes…..classic right wing ideology.
We certainly live in weird times.