Australian
Thursday 14/5/2009 Page: 21
Qantas chair Leigh Clifford has broken ranks with the Business Council of Australia by calling for a carbon tax, instead of an emissions trading scheme, once the economy settles down. In an interview to be published in The Deal tomorrow, Mr Clifford said he preferred a carbon tax because it was more targeted and could be modified along the way.
While the BCA supports the trading scheme, this comes with the caveat that the scheme is designed properly, and increasing numbers of business people are worried that it is not being done correctly. The Government is committed to a trading scheme but has delayed its introduction, allowing the debate to broaden.
There have been growing calls from big business for a tax rather than a poorly designed trading scheme. Mr Clifford's shift is important, given he has been the boss of a big coal producer, Rio Tinto, and chairman of a big polluter, Qantas. Unlike many other companies, Qantas at last has some market power, which means it can pass on the effects of a tax hike.
Former BHP Billiton boss Paul Anderson was an early supporter of a carbon tax, believing it to be the most efficient way of achieving the desired carbon reduction. In the interview with The Deal, Mr Clifford said: "I do recognise the community wants to cut CO2 emissions. But let's get some stability in the economy and then wait a little.
"Then we should have a carbon tax. (It) can be targeted and you can increase and decrease it, but once you put in an emissions trading system, you unleash something which has to be global... I am just not convinced the developed world will write cheques to buy dirty air out of the underdeveloped world."
Mr Clifford also urged the debate to be widened to include nuclear energy. "What amazes me, if we are talking 2050, (is) why shouldn't nuclear energy be at least part of the debate? The UK, US, China can have a program, but with a 50 - year timeframe it is unbelievable we can't even have it on the agenda."
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