Labor fesses up to its own tax scare tactics
Note this interesting admission.
Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said there was a major difference between the GST and the carbon tax. ''The Howard government was honest with the community and explained in detail the policy before an election and took it to the people for a vote,'' Mr Hunt said.
So labor lied then via a scare campaign.... are they lying now?
Howard was honest with the people, labor is what from what I read and as always?
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politi ... 212z2.html
CLIMATE Change Minister Greg Combet has admitted Labor's fierce attacks in the lead-up to the GST amounted to a ''scare campaign'' as his party seeks to fend off the same tactic from Tony Abbott on the carbon tax.
''Labor was running a scare campaign against the GST and it petered out because it couldn't be sustained,'' Mr Combet told The Age. ''It was an economic reform that people became accustomed to. In Australian politics, in our democracy, [a scare campaign] is not a new phenomenon and you have to argue it out.''
Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said there was a major difference between the GST and the carbon tax. ''The Howard government was honest with the community and explained in detail the policy before an election and took it to the people for a vote,'' Mr Hunt said.
Mr Combet's remarks - an unusual admission from a sitting minister about his own party - highlight the government's efforts to assuage voter fears that the carbon tax will hit their hip pockets and damage the economy.
With the carbon tax set to begin on Sunday, the Gillard government has been eager to draw comparisons with the GST, a Howard government reform that was preceded by widespread voter concern but ultimately took effect with little fuss. Asked if Labor's anti-GST campaign was equivalent to Mr Abbott's line of attack on carbon, Mr Combet said: ''On some levels it was, yeah.''
Mr Combet said the United States - which has no plans to introduce a national carbon trading scheme - risked being left behind on climate change and clean energy. ''That's a risk … and it would be a risk for our economy too if we thought we could not do anything about it,'' he said. ''They'll be watching a lot of what China does … and China is genuinely in my belief pursuing the implementation of carbon pricing through emission trading in areas of population and economy vastly in excess of ours.
''I believe them to be genuine and they're doing an enormous amount of detailed work.''
The $23 carbon tax will be paid by about 300 large carbon emitters, particularly power generators, mining companies and heavy industry. Mr Abbott has vowed to repeal it.
Mr Combet also said his department was looking at claims - reported by The Age - that the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) scheme in Indonesia, in which Australia invests, is rife with corruption. ''I'm pursuing that with my department,'' he said. He said the government would continue with those programs.
