A Senior Shadow Cabinet Minister today admitted that under the Coalition’s Direct Action plan, taxpayers and not polluters will be required to pay to cut pollution. 

Today when interviewed on ABC 24 Mr Turnbull admitted that the Coalition’s direct action would cost taxpayers directly:

The Coalition actually, in its current policy, that is to the say the policy that’s described as direct action, does involve putting a price on carbon – it’s just that the price is paid with taxpayers’ dollars rather than paid in the marketplace by people who are needing to buy permits in order to get the right to pollute, which is how an emissions trading scheme works.

This is in line with a previous statement Mr Turnbull made on 23 September last year on ABC 24:

“Coalition’s policy is, rather than having polluters... you know, the industry pay those costs and passing them on to consumers, to have the cost of abatement paid for out of taxpayers’ dollars.”

In addition, Mr Turnbull has previously confirmed on ABC’s Q&A program that he could not cite any economists that agreed Direct Action was an appropriate policy response.

Mr Turnbull’s analysis is in line with Treasury advice about the Direct Action policy in the incoming Blue Book which stated that:

“Direct Action measures alone cannot do the job without imposing significant economic and budget costs.”

The fact is that Mr Turnbull along with a number of other Liberals understand that a carbon price based on a market mechanism is the cheapest and fairest way to cut pollution and drive investment in a clean energy future.

It is Mr Abbott’s political opportunism that prevents the Coalition from adopting a sensible economic position on the issue of climate change.

In contrast to the Coalitions’ economically and environmentally irresponsible policy - the Gillard Government’s carbon price means that large polluters will be required to pay for every tonne of pollution they emit.

Every cent of this revenue will then be used to assist households, support jobs and tackle climate change.

The Government has previously released figures that demonstrate that direct action will cause a $30 billion black hole in the budget and will cost an average family $720 a year.

Stay up to date

• Email subscriptions 
• RSS  
• What is RSS?

Links

• APH website
• Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency
• Australian Government

Media contacts

Minister's Office
02 6277 7920

Before you download

Most publications are available as PDF files. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view PDF files.

If you are unable to access a publication, please contact us to organise a suitable alternative format.

Key

Links to another website
Opens a pop-up window