BCA cool on carbon taxes [ 10apr06 ]

THE Business Council of Australia has made it clear it has no plans to take up the sensitive issue of a carbon tax, despite calls from several chief executives last week for more Federal Government action on climate change.

BCA policy director Maria Tarrant said the council was already considering climate change in its infrastructure action plan released last year.

She said the BCA also strongly supported recent moves by the Council of Australian Governments to set up several working parties to look at the issue of climate change.

Ms Tarrant said the BCA was concerned to see a national policy framework on climate change.

But she said the council had no plans to "drill down" into specific policy suggestions such as a carbon tax or carbon pricing mechanisms.









Six chief executives, including Westpac's David Morgan, Origin Energy's Grant King and IAG's Michael Hawker - all BCA members - called on the Federal Government to move faster to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The members of the Business Roundtable on Climate Change said the Government should introduce a carbon-pricing policy which would mean financial penalties for greenhouse gas emissions.

They said the Government should signal that there would be no "carbon holiday" for businesses from as early as 2007.

Mr Morgan and others said they would also take the matter up with the BCA.

The BCA had a bitter debate among its members in 2002 and 2003 over the issue of whether it should support the signing of the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.

Unable to reach a consensus among its members, which include the major mining companies of Australia which are strongly opposed to anything like a carbon tax, the council dropped the issue.

But it has continued to address the issue of policies for climate change at a broader level, avoiding the sensitive topic of a carbon tax.

"The important thing is to ensure a national policy framework on climate change matters," Ms Tarrant said yesterday.

"The BCA strongly supports the recent moves of COAG and the work being undertaken by the Asia Pacific six nations on climate change."

Queensland federal Nationals member De-Anne Kelly criticised the suggestions of the six chief executives, urging the Government to ignore their recommendations.

"Mining companies have argued against a tax on carbon emissions as it would drive the mining industry out of Australia," Ms Kelly said.

"The mining lobby and the Australian Government are already investing a substantial amount of money in developing a new clean-coal energy such as Coal21 which uses new technologies to reduce gas emissions from coal-driven power stations."