Mr Rudd, who on Monday admitted on national television it was "a mistake" for Labor to drop the ETS, used his speech to colleagues on the day he was dumped as party leader to acknowledge mistakes in three key policy areas of climate change, the mining tax and the failed Building the Education Revolution program.
The caucus minutes record Mr Rudd as saying: "As you know, I changed our position on the emissions trading scheme and I'm responsible for that change in position. This was a collective decision, a decision which, however, for which I am responsible."
Speaking on the ABC's Q&A program on Monday night, Mr Rudd, now Foreign Minister, said he had made the wrong call to abandon his ETS plan.
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He said there were people in the party who wanted to kill off the idea, and others who advocated delay.
"I tried to find a way up the middle of all that, preserve the unity of the government," Mr Rudd said. "On balance, it was the wrong call. We should have simply tried to sail straight ahead."
Mr Rudd did not specifically suggest Julia Gillard, as Mr Rudd's deputy, had lobbied heavily for the switch.
However, the caucus minutes, reported in The Australian last November, reveal a different story.
"I wish to place on record here that Lindsay Tanner and Penny Wong strongly argued to me against taking that position. Equally strong was the advice from Wayne and Julia that the emissions trading scheme had to be abandoned," Mr Rudd said at the time.
The Prime Minister, who is facing a lengthy battle on her proposed carbon tax, yesterday refused to confirm she urged her predecessor to kill off the ETS. "I do not believe that it's proper to discuss confidential discussions between cabinet colleagues," she said.
"But I have always believed that we needed to tackle climate change."
The opposition said Mr Rudd's breach of cabinet confidentiality was a job application for a second tilt at the Labor leadership.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nationa ... 6034311115
Can any of you out-line the key-differences between Rudds ETS and Gillards Carbon-Tax for me?
To date, not even Gillard herself has taken the ETS -vrs- Carbon-tax 'difference' challenge, despite being asked to list the differences by many eager to learn of these themselves.
Lets outline the similarities instead then...
-Both are a UN 21 agenda to get more bums on bicycles and cars off the road. Great if you live in the city, bad if you have to rely on public transport.
-Both come with the 10% UN tax gift.
-Both are set to cripple Australia's manufacturing industry, will cost jobs, and further increase the soaring costs of living.
-Both are limited in that they only address carbon as a toxic environmental pollutant, when there are more harmful chemicals in our environment not being addressed.
-Both came with BHP's corporate backing, are a fascist left-wing socialist "distribute-the-wealth" policy endorsed by Australia's largest mining giant in exchange for "alternative" mining expansion rights eg Uranium down at Olympic dam.
-Both were/are based on unpolished scientific AGW theory, still being scrutinised by our worlds leading scientists.
