By Aimee Chanthadavong
With Kevin Rudd back in power as Prime Minister, he has announced the termination of the carbon tax, with belief this will “ease cost of living pressures for families and to reduce costs for small businesses”
Instead, Rudd said from 1 July next year Australia will move to an emissions trading scheme, one that is used around the world, including in countries like Britain, Germany and soon in China.
“The modelling from Treasury shows that in the financial year 2014-15 an average family will receive a cost of living relief to the value of $380 per year,” the PM said at his conference on Tuesday.
“This is modest relief, but it's real.
“We expect the change that we are bringing in will see the price on carbon fall from an expected $25.40 a tonne by next July to around $6 a tonne.”
He also made note that under the ETS, average families will save $380 a year compared to the Coalition’s scheme when fully implemented will see people “$1200 a year worse off”.
But for retailers, the ETS scheme is only “a band aid” to the carbon tax.
Australian Retailers Association executive director Russell Zimmerman said the only real solution is to remove the carbon tax and ETS altogether.
“The announcement replaces a terrible tax with an unacceptable cost to retailers, and while the ARA is pleased with the removal of the carbon tax in its previous guise, these taxes and costs should never have been introduced in the first place,” he said.
Zimmerman also said while initial energy costs for retailers is $6 there are concerns this could rise as it’ll be determined by the market. “What happens if the market sets the price at $30 or higher, do we end up exactly where we were or worse off?”