The CPRS is looking more and more like a hotted up second hand car. It sounded good in the advertisement, had all the fancy bits added on and looked really shiny and ready to go. Unfortunately the closer you look at it, the less reliable it gets. It might not be as fancy, but an

The unfortunate reality is that, having waited a decade for a government to express a willingness to do something about climate change, we are now faced with a choice between a policy that locks us into failure by dictating that emissions in Australia cannot fall by more than five per cent and abandoning the CPRS

Burying bad news in the media. The impact of climate change on new businesses. Cooperatives. The Government’s new human rights consultation.

Hugh Saddler and Helen King examine the difficulties implicit in applying emissions trading to agriculture; Josh Fear reclaims your time from the telemarketers and examines the superannuation industry in Australia; David Richardson explains how accelerated depreciation would help the renewable energy industry; Richard Denniss looks at a new top tax rate; John Langmore asks whether

An economical truth. The bogus economic case for telemarketing. Bee lines. Over a barrel.

The new solar rebate announced by Peter Garrett will not reduce Australia’s emissions by one kilogram below the five per cent emissions target announced in the White Paper because, under the CPRS, the unfortunate reality is that every time households reduce their energy use or install solar panels, all they will be doing is freeing

The proposed CPRS announced by the Prime Minister is one of the most generous industry assistance packages in Australian history and should be known as the Carbon Polluter Rescue Scheme. What began as a scheme designed to make polluters pay has evolved into a scheme in which the polluters get paid billions of dollars.

Ministerial responsibility. A major flaw in the ETS. Thinking long term.

The introduction of an Australian emissions trading scheme in 2010 makes it pointless for households to reduce their energy use.

Government assistance to industry. New anti-SLAPP legislation in the ACT. ACMA’s recent decision on subliminal advertising. The need for wellbeing in a climate-changed Australia.

The Rudd Government hopes to incorporate agriculture into its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) in 2015 but this initiative is unlikely to be successful.

The Treasury modelling of the economic cost of tackling climate change shows that, despite all the scaremongering by some industries, the economic costs associated with reducing greenhouse gas emissions are trivially small.

Why we care more about the financial crisis than climate change. The 50 per cent discount on capital gains. Whether there has been an exodus from public schools to private ones.

Calls for the introduction of accelerated depreciation provisions for investment in clean energy. Because the price of this equipment is likely to fall sharply in the coming years, firms which invest today will experience ‘first mover disadvantage’.

The electricity industry generates around 45 per cent of Australia’s carbon emissions so it is surprising to see so little R&D in this industry. The electricity industry should be at the forefront of exploring lower emissions and renewable technologies, but the figures suggest the industry is not serious about doing so.

Calls for the introduction of accelerated depreciation provisions for investment in clean energy. Because the price of this equipment is likely to fall sharply in the coming years, firms which invest today will experience ‘first mover disadvantage’.

Richard Denniss explains how an emissions trading scheme works; Josh Fear looks at financial choices; Gemma Edgar explores the possibility of a national compact between the government and NGOs and David Richardson writes about the problems of hidden unemployment.

Not only can current jobs be adapted to green jobs, Australian engineers who now go to Europe, California or China might be lured home. Eventually, every job needs to be a green job: every industry will need to readjust to the reality of climate change and play their part in cutting Australia’s emissions. At best,

Incoming Executive Director Richard Denniss shares his strategic vision for the Institute.

Clive Hamilton left the Australia Institute at the end of February to devote himself to writing. Here he pens his last comment for the newsletter.

Ross Garnaut, who will report in June to the Rudd Government on its emissions trading system, is a former trade economist now spending a lot of time thinking about how to prevent powerful industries undermining the Government’s plans. He has come up with a radical solution. Let’s have one target, a carbon budget aimed at

The science is becoming more alarming by the month, and so are the impacts of global warming itself. The demand for decisive action can only intensify over the next three years; it will require far-sighted policies to bring about a wholesale transformation of the nation’s energy economy, a structural change on a par with that