Turnbull courageous but not intillectual enough

Comments on Malcolm Turnbull “Why I support the ETS proposal”, 9/02/2010, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/why-i-support-the-ets-proposal/story-e6frg6zo-1225828034340

The real issue, I guess, is not whether there should be a market approach using price signals for managing climate change. It is about whether the current ETS, as the government proposed, is a good one for a market approach.

Professor Ross Garnaut, federal government’s former climate change advisor, once said the ETS was too compromised and it would be better to start again, although interestingly and mysteriously but hard to understand, he recently appeared to be supporting the ETS again.

The problems with the current ETS are: one, it will provide too much free handouts to heavy polluters; two, the government will use that as a tax tool and redistribute income; three, it will be costly to have so much bureaucratic agencies and middle traders to be involved.

A true market based approach to managing climate change is to use price signal, but not necessarily through ETS, but by directly imposing penalties on polluters, whether they are producers or consumers, whoever pollute, they should and must pay for it.

While Turnbull has stick to his gun with the ETS, he should have a rethink about the best approaches, as opposed to having to pass the current ETS. The urgency to pass the ETS has faded into insignificance after the Copenhagen summit on climate change without a satisfactory result.

That is where a true statesman should distinguish himself from second class politicians.