Australian government under the control of the fossil fuel industries
The fossil fuel industry and who really runs Australia Independent Australia Sandi Keane 6 May 2014,The age of entitlement is over in Australia — except for the dominant fossil fuel industry and those rich enough to be able to buy political patronage. Deputy editor Sandi Keane reports.
Treasurer Joe Hockey urges all of us to “share the pain” for his confected “budget emergency”,but, sadly, ‘sharing’ isn’t in the fossil fuel industry’s playbook.
Big Carbon has always balked at sharing profits from Australia’s mineral wealth.
In stark contrast to Norway, where a mining tax of 78% has resulted in a sovereign wealth fund twice the size of its GDP, Australia’s effective tax rate for foreign multinational miners is a mere 13%.
Instead, whilst crying poor, the mining industry managed to stump up $22 million for an anti-tax campaign and, in 2010, bring down a prime minister — Kevin Rudd.
This week, Australia’s dominant fossil fuel industry threw down the gauntlet to Hockey’s razor gang after it threatened to trim the luxurious 38% diesel fuel tax rebate.
The speed and the manner in which Hockey and Abbott caved in left most in little doubt about who really governs this country.
From The Land (5/5/14):
‘Correspondence leaked to the ABC between top mining executives warned of a “profound” political impact from cuts to the diesel rebate, greater than that faced by Labor with the mining tax. The letters showed the government faced a potentially damaging fight with the nation’s biggest mining firms over the rebate.’
According to The Australia Institute, the fossil fuel industry receives more than $10 billion per year in government subsidies, with the mining industry hogging most of it. The diesel fuel rebate or Fuel Tax Credit Scheme, is worth $4 billion per year. It might have been designed originally for farmers, but the lion’s share goes to the mining industry.
In 2012, nine out of ten people polled voted for the money to be redirected to health and education. But, unless you are one of the powerful business elites, you – sadly – have very little sway with this Government.
Because miners and moguls run Australia.
So we taxpayers will see just our pockets looted to reduce a budget deficit of just 15% of GDP — one of the lowest of any G20 economy. (great table here on national deficit)
Way to go… or so they thought.
Thankfully, as reported recently by Renew Economy’s Giles Parkinson, the AER has started cracking down on rorting. It now requires Victorian network operators to base their expenditure plans on actual usage rather than forecasts. It’s a good start but the regulation system is a complicated one and progress will be slow.
One outcome the energy industry hadn’t counted on was the growth of solar rooftops. The infrastructure profit bonanza started falling in a heap when the public wised up in tandem with the rising power prices. As solar doesn’t need over-priced poles and wires, that’s half the household bill saved for starters.
In a special report on the ABC’s Background Briefing, ‘The Price of Power’, The Australia Institute’s DrRichard Denniss explained solar’s “trick” to reporter Jess Hill:
“Solar rooftops are wreaking havoc on the traditional power industry, because they produce the most amount of energy at the time of day when the power industry makes the most money.”……….
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