From The New Daily (14/2/24)…
Ambitious pitch for climate reform by taxing fossil fuels is “Australia’s opportunity”
Everyone’s a winner, except the fossil fuel industry.”
That’s the nexus of an ambitious pitch by former consumer watchdog chair Rod Sims and economist Ross Garnaut at the National Press Club (NPC) on Wednesday for reform centred on climate action.
Their suggested “carbon solution levy” would involve taxing fossil fuels at the point of export to compensate for the rising costs of climate change.
Garnaut said that the changes might seem radical, but the levy would affect only about 100 businesses, such as BHP Group, Fortescue Metals and Woodside Petroleum, while raising more than $100 billion each year.
“We know that a general requirement for polluters to pay for the cost they impose on others is impossible in contemporary Australia,” he said.
“But not as impossible politically as accepting continued stagnation and decline in living standards.”
Garnaut said investing 5 per cent or more of national income – a similar amount to what was injected into mining during the “China resources boom” from 2002 to 2012 – into zero-carbon industries would help turn Australia into a renewable energy superpower
