Environment: Content from Across the ABC


Date/Time 11 Jul 2014 12:22:19pm

I'm sorry, but this is baseless propaganda.

Yes Spain has did have a ridiculously over-generous solar rebate scheme (offering 10 times the value of our RECs) - but the value of those subsidies was infinitesimal compared with their GDP.

Reading any financial analysis of Spain - the focus is on their massive property bubble as being the central cause of their woes prior to the current crisis, with their renewable schemes never rating a mention.

And while I'm at it; 5 years in to the Australian ETS - the schemes net revenue will be $7 billion, which in an economy of $1,500 billion by then - will not and can not amount to economic Armageddon.

Also, with our Aluminum smelters receiving 94.5% protection from the carbon tax - they will be paying $1.27 per ton of CO2 while in China from 2015 they'll be paying $1.50. This is why the head of ALCOA and the head of that industry's peak body have both said the proposed Geelong shut down is not about the carbon tax.