CAUTION ADVISED ON EMMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME
Spokesperson for the Pelican/Blacksmiths Progress Association, Mr Chris Osborne, said today that chaos in Canberra today within the ranks of the Opposition is a telling sign that all is not right with the current approach by the Government of an emissions trading scheme.
We’ve been listening to the two major parties bickering for months over the climate change legislation and playing politics while the electorate hasn’t been given all of the facts in order for them to make an informed decision," Mr Osborne said.
Mr Osborne said that residents of East Lake Macquarie, where the Progress Association operates, have been recently told through the media that projected sea level rises will inundate their properties.
Just what, as ordinary people, have we had explained to us about this whole issue of climate change and the emissions trading scheme", he said.
We have had nothing from our local Federal members and we even have the Assistant Climate Change Minister, representing the western side of the lake, and what has he done to explain to us all what this means in terms of extra costs to our grocery bills, our electricity bills, and more importantly, to the jobs of hundreds of power workers and miners in our region."
Mr Osborne said he thought that a majority of the media coverage of this issue was slanted towards fear mongering and no real facts are discussed.
"It’s as though it is all a big secret and the pollies in Canberra don’t want to bore us with the real details", Mr Osborne said. "They may think we can’t take it in or understand it, but I think the general public is very smart when it comes to issues that will affect them personally of financially."
Mr Osborne said that he couldn’t understand what the rush was to have legislation passed before the Copenhagen summit.
Why are we so hell bent on having this legislation passed when the biggest polluter in the world, the US, doesn’t have any legislation, and there are only less than a handful of other governments who have done anything as well", he said.
And what about the second biggest polluter, China, are they going to enforce targets of their own when they are reported to be building one coal-fired power station per week over there."
Mr Osborne called on the Government and the Opposition to delay the legislation until there has been thorough community consultation and feedback, and so that we can see what the outcome of Copenhagen is?
