Cabinet Conflict on Carbon Tax

11-March-2011

It is not only Prime Minister Gillard who is at loggerheads with Mr Rudd. There is also a big conflict brewing between two cabinet colleagues over the carbon tax. Who would you be pinning your hopes on winning: Minister Emerson, the Government’s chief attacker or Minister Carr, the beleaguered Industry Minister?

Emerson has come out yesterday arguing that unions’ calls for tariffs would result in “…a long and deep Australian recession”. He also claims heavy emitting industries should be given free permits.

At the same time, Carr has gone public saying that the proceeds of carbon permits should be used to raise money to assist industries.

Ms Gillard needs to tell the Australian people who is right: is it Mr Emerson or Mr Carr?

“It doesn’t take a genius to know who Gillard favours in this fight. After all Minister Carr was only informed of the decision to slash $926 million out of his portfolio on 27 January, an hour before it was announced, and it is Emerson’s job to go out and defend the indefensible whenever the Government is in trouble,” said Shadow Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Sophie Mirabella.

“While Ms Gillard has been crying in Congress over men on the moon, her Cabinet colleagues have been fighting over what the carbon tax actually means to Australians today and how it should apply,” Mrs Mirabella concluded.