Australian parliament approves carbon tax

They have not explained how the money will be used at all....this is simply more taxes with a green feel-good tinge to it.

Green Jobs sound good but so far seem to be one of the biggest scams going.

Where is the money being used for? People need energy it is just going to raise prices on everything. Gillard seems to think everyone is a Mr Burns.

Watch everyone get POed when their power bill goes up 25%

This is big news! I only hope that the money generated from this carbon tax is actually used for it's purpose of creating greener jobs and investing in greener technology. Gillard hasn't really clearly commented on what this money will be used for and that concerns me. I don't believe for a second though that the only reason she is so unpopular in the polls is because of the carbon tax. I think more Australians support this bill then what the polls suggest. It was the way she advertised it, lied about it and the way she came into power that I think Australians didn't like. Lets just hope it doesn't impact too greatly on our electricity bills! When similiar legislation passed in Europe electricty companies axed up their prices to ridiculous amounts and then blamed the new tax as the reason, yet they still made a lot of profit.

@gogogo, the scheme is revenue neutral and any income generated is refunded to taxpayers. An almost identical system in been in place in BC, Canada since '08 - the purpose is to put a properly price in the long-term effects of carbon emissions.

As one of the largest per capita emitters, Australia is a big testing ground for this system. If it's successful there then it should be successful anywhere.

One good thing that will come out of this new tax. Gillard and her union cronies will be tossed out of office at the next election. Bye Bye Labour for a few years. This tax and really thats all it is another revenue raising scheme by an incompetent bunch of fools needs to be gotten rid of as soon as possible.

yokomoc,

So the scheme is revenue neutral is it? And the taxpayers get their money back hey? So please explain to me how l as a taxpayer will get the money back that l am forced to outlay because the price of all basic goods goes up. With transport costs set to rise, manufacturing costs set to rise companies will pass on these increases to the consumer. This will be on all goods from you basic everyday item to all other items. Not to mention things like electricity, the consumers will be slugged because the government run power providers have not upgraded their power stations and still use old polluting coal stations.

Yeah fun times!!!

Not that I'm against such measures, but it seems a bit silly to tax your own businesses on one hand while selling all the coal you can to China on the other. China will produce more than the pollution you save, and their businesses won't have to face the same expenditures.

"but it seems a bit silly to tax your own businesses on one hand while selling all the coal you can to China on the other."

Where it only coal they were burning. I've seen container loads of used tyres heading to China which I presume were destined to be burned in their power stations.

We have the same tax here, it is nothing other than collective governments finding new ways to screw us out of more. The media are parrotting that it's a "new tax on carbon pollution to combat climate change" yet what of these tax revenues are ear-marked to" combat" climate change?

Poop rolls down and this has been another "eco" tax that has hit the European motorist, each time a logbook changes hands. Up to 2500 euros extra, plus le price of the pink-slip.

What's next, a tax on salt? Or perhaps homes with too many windows?

Agreed that "green jobs" are largely an illusion. IF green technology were viable and profitable, there would be investors lined up eager to invest in it.

That obviously isn't happening.

It reminds me of self-righteous European countries voluntarily shutting down their nuclear reactors. Italy has just voted to do so, but it will create an energy shortfall (of course). The solution? Buy excess power from France. Great idea, except the energy produced in France is largely ........ nuclear!

I'm not sure if it is hypocrisy, since hypocrisy would require thought and effort. More likely, just lazy thinking and blind faith in quote unquote green technology.

The 'carbon tax' money goes straight to european bankster companies who have set up carbon credit issuing companies. They make up these credits out of thin air and then charge australian companies for the right to emit carbon dioxide. It's yet another unregulated derivatives type market that will grow to trillions of dollars and all that money will move from the poor and the middle class up to the already super rich. There will be a small token of these funds diverted to the 'green jobs' for a few months so the mainstream media can go all goo and gah over it - after that the media will stop coverage and then all the momey will go where it's really intended to.

Think what happens when a company has increased or new input costs - the prices of their outputs increase..... the money given back to tax payers will not offset this at all. The money that is 'being given back to the little people' is probably being borrowed from the international bankster anyway - it's simply how fractional reserve banking works.

Green technologies are the biggest scam we ever had.