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Government announces Climate Change Authority board

22/06/2012 - The federal government has announced the make-up of the independent authority that will recommend how fast Australia cuts greenhouse gas emissions under its controversial pollution price regime.

The Climate Change Authority will act much like the central bank and advise on key aspects of Labor's emissions trading scheme (ETS).
 
Former Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Bernie Fraser was appointed chair of the authority in mid-2011 and seven other board members have been named.
 
They include serving RBA board member Heather Ridout, well-known academics Clive Hamilton and John Quiggin, public sector economist Lynne Williams, businessman John Marlay, AustralianSuper chair Elana Rubin and climate scientist David Karoly.
 
The country's chief scientist, Ian Chubb, is an ex-officio member of the authority.
 
"This is a very strong board," Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said in a statement on Thursday.
 
The authority will recommend intermediate targets to ensure Australia meets its pledge to cut emissions by five per cent by 2020 from 2000 levels. The long-term target is an 80 per cent reduction by 2050.
 
But the authority won't have the final say on pollution caps, which remain the responsibility of the government and the parliament.
 
Labor's carbon tax starts in 10 days with a fixed pollution price of $23 a tonne, before moving to an ETS from mid-2015.
 
Big emitters will have to buy permits under the ETS, with pollution levels determined by the number of permits issued.
 
The authority will recommend caps for the first five years of the flexible-price period by early 2014.
 
It will also advise the federal government on the reporting system, carbon farming initiative and renewable energy target, or RET.
 
An overall review of the carbon price regime is due by late 2016.
 
The Australian Greens hope the authority will "depoliticise" the fraught process of setting emission reduction targets.
 
The Australian Conservation Foundation said Friday's appointments would ensure the government received respected advice on climate change policy.
 
"The Climate Change Authority is well placed to become the Reserve Bank of climate change," spokesman Tony Mohr told reporters in a statement.

Source: AAP
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Have your say...
Stephen Kuhl | 22/06/2012 11:17 1
Sir, Whast an appalling waste of money, paying a group of grovelling YES people doing what they are told, by an incompetent mob of socialist imbeciles! Imagine the thousands of useless sponging paper shufflers, and self made ego maniacs building their Sir Humphrey empires!! This creation of ignorant wankers who know nothing of reality or truth, seem hell bent on destroying Mining, Industry, and ultimately AUSTRALIA! People have not realised that this useless money gouging tax, will do totally bloody nothing of any use!! The Penny will drop shortly, when people find out that it is a compounding cumulative or is that a Wong argument? How can these lying imbeciles in Canberra tell us that we will reducew it by 80 % by 2050??? Someone needs to give them some primary school lectures on energy Thermodynamics and encourage them not to breed! It seems that we are in for a very dim, cold future under these lunatics! Let all of us in industry PRAY for a swift removal of this most reprehensible Government in our history, along with the ??Greenies?? and a couple of raving independents, that we will shortly see them exiting stage lleft into the cess pool of history, the same as Queensland and New South Wales!! Industry is facing a very bleak future, because of China, and our own treacherous government wants to bring the country down. They are imitating Mugabe, and Idi Amin, with their Regime type mentality!
Goldie | 22/06/2012 18:22 2
These well qualified people (in their own disciplines) are no doubt global warming disciples who will give global warming High Priest Combet well thought out scaremongering and reasons for tax rises to battle the climate demons on cue. The Greens politicised this whole process in the first place so why should they escape the flak that comes with making life unnecessarily hard for the mug punters. Campbell Newman has shown what happens to groups such as this when the Libs get in. Costello may be required again to go over the books and find what sort of a deficit we have after this mob of drunken sailors gets the heave ho. Can't wait.
dave d | 25/06/2012 12:42 3
Wouldn't it be great if someone could "depoliticise" the Greens - all this nonsense is happening so Ju-liar can hang on to the only hope she has of staying in power !!
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