Climate Change

The issue of whether Australia needs a price on carbon is far too important for our economy and Australia's future to be treated like a political football. The stakes are too high to allow Tony Abbott to get away with a false scare campaign that suits his short term political ambitions at the expense of a securer future for all Australians.

Peabody Exposes Lies of Big Mining Scare Campaign

US mining giant Peabody Energy has revealed the cynical truth behind their vocal anti-carbon tax posturing with yesterday’s announcement of it’s $5 billion takeover bid for Australian miner McArthur Coal.

CFMEU National President Tony Maher said Peabody was not worried about the state of the Australian industry, but rather was worried a successful introduction of a carbon tax in Australia could lead to its uptake in the US.

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The Great Deniers

History has had some great deniers. But they were wrong. And now Tony Abbott has joined them.

Watch some of the classic denials, as explained by Manic Studios in this Youtube clip...

Time for Coal Association to come clean

The CFMEU has called on the Australian Coal Association to end its carbon scare campaign and take responsibility for its own future.

CFMEU National President Tony Maher called on the ACA Executive Director Ralph Hillman to use his address to the National Press Club to outline how the industry is prepared to invest in its long-term future.

The CFMEU’s new advert ‘Big Mining: All Take, No Give’ appeared in the Canberra Times on 6 July and is available here for download.

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A price on carbon: the facts

• From 1 July 2012, less than one thousand large companies will have to pay for permits to emit C02.
• Less than 1% of all Australian registered companies will pay a price on the carbon they use.
• Individual taxpayers do not pay, big business does.
• A lot of companies will receive some money back as free permits to assist competition with imports and help boost exports
• Families, pensioners and business will receive most of the money raised to assist with rising electricity prices.
• For the first 3-5 years of the scheme, the price paid by large businesses will be fixed by legislation, rather than fluctuating according to supply and demand. This gives business and consumers certainty.
• The detail of consumer and business compensation is still to be negotiated and when this is finalised people can make a judgement on the facts. Until then, every claim from Tony Abbott and some sections of big business about price rises and job losses should be dismissed for what they are - opportunistic scaremongering.

A collection of key documents is available. Select the Downloads button to display a list of downloadable documents, including this leaflet.

Watch Tony Maher's interview on Meet The Press in the "Watch the video" section.

See CFMEU Construction's campaign for Action on Climate Change.