Big Petrol gets enough government charity
Groups like the Business Council claim a price on pollution will eviscerate the economy.
Since word got out that the government was considering cutting back on the $2 billion handout to resource companies known as the Fuel Tax Credit scheme, there has been the normal outburst of complaint from the industry’s lobbyists.
In last week’s Financial Review, it was Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association’s turn to insist that any cutbacks to this boondoggle would result in risk to “billions of dollars in investment in oil and gas development”. If this sounds familiar, it’s because you’ve definitely heard it before.
When faced with the original mining tax, the Minerals Council claimed it would drive miners to other countries to dig up minerals, creating the now-mythical “sovereign risk”.
Similarly, groups like the Business Council claim a price on pollution will eviscerate the economy, driving businesses broke and “exposed” industries offshore.
The same, tired, argument was wheeled out last week when some of the country’s most profitable companies were asked to contribute a little bit to the global effort to cut down our use of fossil fuels.
It was inevitable that at some point Australians would stop listening, and it appears that that time is now. What is the difference this time?
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