Abbott's proposed Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) will see carbon abatement costings shortfall of est. $35 billion up to 2020

In order to achieve a 5 per cent cut in emissions, RepuTex modelling indicates that the ERF would require additional funding of $35 billion between 2015 and 2020, or $41 billion in total. [RepuTex,August 2013,EMISSIONS TRADING VERSUS DIRECT ACTION,p 17]

Direct Action vs. ETS: Achieving Our Emissions Objectives

Posted on: 29.08.2013

RepuTex today released a research paper titled ‘Direct Action vs. Emissions Trading: Achieving Australia’s Emissions Reduction Objectives’.

In this report, commissioned by WWF-Australia, RepuTex analysed the ability of the Coalition’s Direct Action Plan and the government’s Emissions Trading policy to achieve Australia’s committed target to reduce emissions to 5-25% below 2000 levels by 2020. Research modelled the Marginal Abatement Cost (MAC) of each policy at the industry level, examining abatement potential and the associated cost of each scenario through to 2020.

Key Findings:

• The retention of the ETS would deliver the full 146 Mt CO2-e of abatement necessary to meet Australia’s 5 per cent emissions reduction target, with approximately 55 per cent coming from domestic abatement and 45 per cent from international abatement. This would be achieved at an average carbon price of A$22 from FY15-20.
• Assuming the setting of ‘emissions intensity’ baselines and current funding, the Direct Action Plan is projected to lead to emissions growth of 16% on 2000 levels, driven by higher Power and Industrial sector emissions.
• Additional funding of A$6 bn is required per year for the Emissions Reduction Fund to achieve enough abatement for Australia to meet its 5% emissions reduction target.
• Alternatively, the setting of an ‘absolute emissions’ baseline could lead to significant domestic abatement and the meeting of Australia’s 5% emissions reduction target, however this would require a penalty price of $54 per tonne, and additional funding of A$3.3 bn per year.
• Regardless of the policy mechanism, the Power and Industrial sectors – notably the Mining, Energy and Chemicals industries – will pay for the achievement of Australia’s abatement objectives, either passing that cost to customers (under the ETS) or to government (under Direct Action).
• Under the latter, businesses will be required to outlay capital and other resources to deliver the abatement. It is then unclear if businesses will be guaranteed payment for abatement under the reverse auction mechanism.
• To limit emissions growth or drive emissions reductions, a penalty price under Direct Action must be set at A$54 to encourage companies to directly invest in abatement activities.

Download the full report via the link below (automatic download).  

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A reprise of Abbott's campaign bloopers, bias & tasteless pandering

The Guardian UK 5 August 2013:

Tony Abbott’s first election campaign photo opportunity was at a Queensland meat packing company the opposition leader claimed was “under direct threat” from carbon tax costs of $5m, but which would actually face a bill of one-tenth that amount next year if Labor is re-elected.
JBS Australia’s Ipswich plant has a current annual carbon tax liability of about $1.9m for its 80,000 tonnes of emissions at the $24 carbon price.
As reporters at the scene reminded Abbott, the company received $4.8m from Labor’s Clean Technology Food and Foundries Investment Program to pay for half the cost of improvements that will cut emissions – at its current production levels – to 35,000 tonnes.
So if Labor is re-elected, in the first six months of next year the company’s liability would be half of an annual bill of about $840,000, or about $420,000. And if Labor then floats the carbon price – as it has promised – in the second half of the year, its bill would fall further. At a carbon price of about $6 the annual bill would be $210,000. That takes the total 2014 liability to about $525,000 – or about a tenth of Abbott’s estimate….

Brisbane Times 9 August 2013:

The Coalition campaign has been left red-faced by a bungle in which it urged journalists to quiz Kevin Rudd on the death of a young tradesman during the home insulation scheme - only to get the man's family name wrong.

The email from Liberal Campaign Headquarters to reporters travelling with Mr Rudd recommends five questions, including: "When will Mr Rudd meet with Kevin and Christine Foster to personally apologise for his bungled pink batts scheme?"

The name "Foster" should have read "Fuller". Kevin and Christine Fuller's son Matthew was one of four installers who died during the government-sponsored roof installation program.

The Guardian 27 August 2013:

Coalition leader Tony Abbott’s comment that those “walking down the street at 2am in Kings Cross in Sydney” who are assaulted “maybe shouldn’t be there” has been branded offensive and irresponsible by the father of an 18-year-old who was killed in a “king hit” assault in that location last year.

Thomas Kelly was killed in an unprovoked attack in July 2012 as he walked through Kings Cross with his girlfriend after 10pm.

Ralph Kelly, Thomas’s father, told Guardian Australia that Abbott’s comments were “throwaway” and “offensive”.

“Someone being king hit, by the very nature of the term, it is a coward’s hit, to hit someone who never sees it coming,” he said.

“To walk through Kings Cross at 2 o’clock in the morning is all of our right. We’re allowed to be there; it’s our democratic right to be there.”

The Advertiser News online 29 August 2013:

OPPOSITION leader Tony Abbott has quipped that a "bit of body contact never hurt anyone" while entering a huddle for a photo opportunity with a group of netball players. Remarking that he "wished he was younger", Mr Abbott went on to promise $6 million for a Netball Centre of Excellence...The comment follows criticism of earlier "jokes" by Mr Abbott.

Latika Bourke ‏@latikambourke24m

While the netballers were posing for photographs OL Tony Abbott told them ‘a little body contact’ never hurt anyone. #ausvotes

News.com.au 31 August 2013:

BURQAS are confronting and should never be widespread on the streets of Australia, Tony Abbott says.

The Opposition Leader was responding to comments reportedly made by McMahon Liberal candidate Ray King that burqas are a "sign of oppression" and can be linked to criminality. Mr Abbott described Mr Ray as a decorated police officer and "outstanding" candidate.

Abbott addressing housemates in the Big Brother House:

"If you want to know who to vote for, I'm the guy with the not bad looking daughters . ."

http://youtu.be/j9ohwkNTixY

http://youtu.be/aJ5qaZvqO-w

http://youtu.be/67Q4kyTeMNo

NSW North Coast Nationals and Kevin Hogan deliberately conceal their association with political attack flyer

Readers living in the Page electorate on the NSW North Coast may have had this flyer turn up in their letter box sometime before  25 August 2013.

No authorship admitted, just an authorisation in fine print along the bottom of one side:

B. Franklin, Level 8, 130 Elizabeth St, Sydney 2000.

Recipients of this flyer may be forgiven for thinking that Mr. Franklin might be acting here as a private citizen.

Except Ben Franklin of Level 8, 130 Elizabeth St, Sydney 2000 has been State Director of the NSW National Party since July 2008 and In that role he oversees all aspects of the Party’s procedure including election campaigning, strategic direction, membership, fundraising, publications and fulfilling all relevant legal and regulatory requirements for the Party’s operation.

The lack of any Nationals logo on the flyer and the omission of the name of their candidate in Page, Kevin Hogan, is highly likely to be a deliberate strategy - possibly in the hope that many voters will blame other political parties for the direct attack on a popular sitting MP.

Abbott will move against workers' rights after the federal election if he wins government?

ABC News 29 August 2013:

The Liberal candidate for Gilmore Ann Sudmalis has told an election forum she can't respond to a question about workplace policy until after the September election.

When quizzed, Ms Sudmalis reacted angrily and wouldn't say whether a Coalition government would re-introduce the controversial 'Work Choices' legislation.

Ms Sudmalis likened the question to fiction and archaeology.

"We are actually not talking about a Stephen King fiction here, we're not digging up bones," she said.

"Any workplace relations legislation is on the table after the election not before, so sorry I can't answer your question.

"It is exactly as it is right now right through to the election and it will be reviewed after the election and that has been made perfectly clear to everybody."….

* Photograph found at Google Images

Australian Federal Election 2013: Tony Abbott rejects the idea of well-rounded and informed students?

The Australian 3 September 2013:

TONY Abbott has urged a rethink of the national history curriculum, saying it underplays the heritage of Western civilisation, gives too much focus to trade unions and overlooks conservative prime ministers.

The Opposition Leader said while he would not dictate changes, the Coalition believed it was "possible to do better" and was entitled to say "maybe you ought to have a rethink".

Asked whether the national curriculum had become "politicised" under Labor, Mr Abbott said it was "mostly" to do with history.

"Lack of references to our heritage, other than an indigenous heritage, too great a focus on issues which are the predominant concern of one side of politics," he said at the National Press Club in Canberra. "I think the unions are mentioned far more than business. I think there are a couple of Labor prime ministers who get a mention, from memory, not a single Coalition prime minister."....

Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has a somewhat strange idea about the history curriculum which forms part of the national Foundation to Year 12 Australian Curriculum.

Rather like a modern American Tea Party 'patriot' he apparently wants a sanitized, markedly right-wing and white bread version of history to be taught in our schools.

This is what the national history curriculum actually covers between Years 6 and 12 in order to produce a well-rounded student:

The Year 6 curriculum moves from colonial Australia to the development of Australia as a nation, particularly after 1900. Students explore the factors that led to Federation and experiences of democracy and citizenship over time. Students understand the significance of Australia’s British heritage, the Westminster system, and other models that influenced the development of Australia’s system of government. Students learn about the way of life of people who migrated to Australia and their contributions to Australia’s economic and social development.

The Year 7 curriculum provides a study of history from the time of the earliest human communities to the end of the ancient period, approximately 60 000 BC (BCE) – c.650 AD (CE). It was a period defined by the development of cultural practices and organised societies. The study of the ancient world includes the discoveries (the remains of the past and what we know) and the mysteries (what we do not know) about this period of history, in a range of societies including Australia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, China and India.

The Year 8 curriculum provides study of history from the end of the ancient period to the beginning of the modern period, c.650 AD (CE) – 1750. This was when major civilisations around the world came into contact with each other. Social, economic, religious, and political beliefs were often challenged and significantly changed. It was the period when the modern world began to take shape.

The Year 9 curriculum provides a study of the history of the making of the modern world from 1750 to 1918. It was a period of industrialisation and rapid change in the ways people lived, worked and thought. It was an era of nationalism and imperialism, and the colonisation of Australia was part of the expansion of European power. The period culminated in World War I 1914-1918, the ‘war to end all wars’.

The Year 10 curriculum provides a study of the history of the modern world and Australia from 1918 to the present, with an emphasis on Australia in its global context. The twentieth century became a critical period in Australia’s social, cultural, economic and political development. The transformation of the modern world during a time of political turmoil, global conflict and international cooperation provides a necessary context for understanding Australia’s development, its place within the Asia-Pacific region, and its global standing.

In Years 11 and 12 the curriculum allows students to do in depth study of either  modern or ancient history.

What the three major political parties are promising voters in Page

In the last three years the Federal Labor Member for Page Janelle Saffin has delivered over $505 million in federal funding across the electorate and if re-elected this coming Saturday further promises:

$10 million for new Outpatient (Ambulatory Care) Unit, Grafton Base Hospital
$3 million for Community Dental Care Fund
Better Schools Plan fully funded for all Clarence Valley schools
$282.3 million for pre-construction of the Pacific Hwy upgrade Woolgoolga to Ballina
$3 million for Casino Hospital emergency department upgrade
$3.5 million towards Casino Regional Livestock Exchange upgrade
Disability Care roll-out to Clarence Valley with regional office (70 staff) in Lismore
$14 billion in addition to existing Commonwealth funding for the National Disability Insurance Scheme by 2019
$500,000 to expand Kyogle Community Gym
Keep the Federal 'water trigger' protections
Keep the Clarence Valley and Northern Rivers CSG-free

This is what the Nationals candidate Kevin Hogan is offering:

$2.1 billion extra for the Pacific Hwy upgrade
Commitment to the rollout of the $300million Wooden Bridges Program
$463,969 for 55 CCTV cameras in Casino CBD
$13,750 for new goalposts for Grafton Rugby League Club
$560,000 for development of Grafton Hockey Complex
$23,253 for a new kitchen at Mid Richmond Neighbourhood Centre
$13,000 for Woombah/Iluka Men's Shed
$115,500 for Bunjum Aboriginal Co-op in Ballina to upgrade the premises to an education centre
Joint Green Army Project for Rekindling the Spirit and Jubulum Land Council creating 10 full-time trainee places for 25 weeks
Joint Green Army Project for EnvITE and National Parks and Wildlife in the Clarence Valley creating 10 full-time trainee places for 25 weeks.
A local share of the $200 million a year Stronger Regions Fund

The Greens candidate in Page Desley Banks is offering:

Ban CSG and unconventional gas mining
$30 billion over 10 years to secure clean energy
Mining tax as a central element of tax system
Invest in public education, including early childhood and TAFE
Increase Newstart payment by $50 per week
Reverse cuts to the Single Parent payment
Create universal Denticare under Medicare

* Election promises above are as published in The Daily Examiner 3 September 2013.
* It is noted that the Nationals candidate is the only one not promising to to keep the Northern Rivers CSG free.

Weirdness characterizes Liberal Party candidate in the McMahon electorate

The Sydney Morning Herald 31 August 2013:

A Liberal Party candidate proposed a radical new policing system in which criminal suspects would be injected with satellite-trackable microchips shot from a ''high powered sniper rifle''.

Ray King, who is contesting the western Sydney electorate of McMahon, was behind the idea, which he claimed would improve productivity of the NSW Police Force.

Mr King, a former police commander in Liverpool, landed in hot water on Friday over critical comments he made about burqas at an election campaign function where guests included the disgraced former detective Roger Rogerson and current assistant police commissioner Frank Minnelli.

In 2011, Mr King outlined his ideas in a 12-page essay, Microchipping of human subjects as a productivity enhancement and as a strategic management direction of NSW Police...

The most controversial part of Mr King's plan was the means by which microchips would be inserted into the body. He named Danish company Empire North as having patented the ''ID Sniper Rifle'' as the ''long-distance injector'' of the microchip.

But a search for Empire North in Copenhagen suggests the company does not exist and the ID sniper rifle is actually part of a plot of a Danish sci-fi docu-drama called Empire North.

A Liberal source said the essay was a ''futuristic scenario'' but, in the Liverpool Champion on March 30, 2011, Mr King raised microchipping as a genuine prospect. ''I'm an advocate for this type of technology,'' he said. ''I think we need to explore the use of microchips to help put criminals behind bars.''