27/02/2014 :- To Tony Abbott :-  When you say that carbon emissions can best be reduced with "direct action" you are in fact quite correct and the most direct of actions focuses on the act of emitting itself. This act clearly needs to have negative pressure placed upon it or in fact have a tax penalty put on it and your logic is flawed if you actually believe you can get the job done with positive pressure only.

You come to power at a critical time because Labor was about to make the enlightened step of moving from a carbon emissions tax to a carbon emissions trading system. This is really quite clever as it allows the rate of total economic activity to have input onto what a carbon emissions permit costs. Central to this enlightened system is that these permits need to be granted ( and sold ) at the rate of pollution that the government will actually be happy to allow. If the government is going to be hard nosed and stick to a hard total carbon emissions figure the carbon price will actually be quite free to float but I believe that the government will prefer to have absolute control over the system and take into account both the cost of a carbon emissions permit and the hard physical total emissions volume when deciding the rate in which to sell carbon emissions permits.

To re-iterate, the best form of "direct action" is in fact a carbon emissions trading system and if you have a desire to focus on the more positive you may want to use some of the tax revenue generated and consider also assisting the private sector in doing their financially indicated thing and help them explore the best and most efficient solution to the problem at hand.

Note :- Even if a better solution is available it will only be adopted if a penalty is involved with the cheaper and dirtier alternative.

From: Greg.Hunt.MP [mailto:Greg.Hunt.MP@environment.gov.au]
Sent: Tuesday, 11 March 2014 12:25 PM
To: dasc1961@netscape.net
Subject: Ministerial Correspondence Referral from PM&C. C14/17990 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]


Good afternoon David,

Thank you for your email highlighting your concerns regarding the Government’s Direct Action policy. I appreciate the time you have taken to raise your concerns with me and I have taken note of your comments.

The Government accepts the science of climate change and is committed to reducing Australia’s emissions.

The Government is committed to achieving a five per cent reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2020 based on 2000 levels.  Our position on further targets remains unchanged and is based on international action.

You should be aware that the Labor Party’s Carbon Tax actually does not work in reducing emissions domestically.  In the first full year of operation, despite a multi-billion dollar economy-wide tax, emissions remain unchanged and under the carbon tax domestic emissions in Australia are forecast to rise through to 2020.

The Coalition’s Direct Action Plan will provide incentives to organisations which reduce emissions so we achieve the 2020 target.  A Coalition Government will use the market to purchase abatement through a reverse auction system.  We expect a range of schemes will play a part, including improved energy efficiency, revegetation, storing carbon in soils and capturing landfill gas.  These projects will deliver real emissions reduction and providing incentives for positive change.

The Coalition is also committed to the Renewable Energy Target.

Once again, thank you for your email.

Yours sincerely,

Greg

Hon Greg Hunt MP

Minister for the Environment