Carbon plan may hit shires

Ballarat Courier
Monday 28/4/2008 Page: 6

Hepburn, Pyrenees, and Golden Plains households would suffer financially from the introduction of a carbon Emissions Trading Scheme. Due to poor or non-existent public transport making them more reliant on cars, residents in these three shires would be among the state's hardest hit by the scheme, according to research released yesterday by the Brotherhood of St Laurence the shires form three of the 14 Victorian rural local government areas identified as having "poor households" with the highest carbon use - 10 per cent or more above the state average.

West Wimmera, Hindmarsh, Southern Grampians, Northern Grampians, Moyne, Gorangamite, Loddon, Yarriambiack, Buloke, Towong and South Gippsland make up the rest of the list. The report estimates that a $35-a-tonne carbon price would increase these LGA's annual household costs by between $1173 and $1306. "Brotherhood research last year showed that imposing a carbon price will take a much bigger proportion of the income of poorer households than wealthy households, despite smaller carbon footprints," Brotherhood of St Laurence executive director Tony Nicholson said.

The latest findings show that those households in areas with little or no public transport or services will be even worse off." As a society, we must introduce carbon emissions trading because it is an economic incentive to encourage society to cut down on goods and services that require more carbon based energy in their production or operation." "However, this latest research is further evidence that a carbon price must be accompanied by measures that not only counter the impact on poorer people but also assist poor households to reduce carbon emissions." The research was drawn from National Institute of Economic and Industry Research using data derived from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.