Friday, December 4, 2009

From the horse's mouth

"Many people have asked me whether it is possible to cut emissions without an ETS, a carbon tax or raising electricity prices. The short answer is no. By putting a price on those CO2 emissions, the cleaner, less emissions-intensive forms of generation become more competitive because they have a lower carbon price to pay.

The reason an ETS is the preferred approach around the world (and indeed was the policy of the Howard government) is because it is more efficient and offers the lowest cost abatement. While I look forward to what emerges from the new policy development efforts, I note in passing that many of us would find it incongruous if a free enterprise party, the Liberal Party, abandoned a market-based means of pricing carbon and reducing emissions and replaced it with heavy government regulation and the increased bureaucracy to administer it."

Malcolm Turnbull