Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has promised that a Coalition government will deliver tax cuts that are not just compensation for a carbon tax.

The Government says there will be tax cuts and welfare increases to help counter the increases caused by a carbon tax.

But Mr Abbott has told the Liberal Federal Council a Coalition government would give a tax cut that is not linked to the carbon tax.

"Labor's tax cut won't even be robbing Peter to pay Paul," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/25/3253465.htm?section=justin

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Gus: "But in contrast WE (the liberals [conservatives]) will rob Paul to PAY Peter!!!" Abbott added silently with emphasis...

Of course, his tax cuts would involve destroying the NBN, cutting welfare to the most in need and of course resuscitating the WorkChoice programme under a new brand of flog, chains and balls, etc... Anyone who believe Abbott ought to have their head examined and given so Anti-Abbott pills...

The coalition has poured cold water on an offer by Prime Minister Julia Gillard to provide Treasury resources to help cost Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's tax plans.

Ms Gillard today threw down the gauntlet to Mr Abbott, offering Treasury officials to cost tax cuts he revealed at yesterday's Liberal Party federal council.

"I do want to make an offer to Tony Abbott, I do believe Australians should be able to judge this on the basis of all the facts and figures," Ms Gillard told Channel Ten.

"So I'm prepared to make available to Mr Abbott officials from Treasury to work with him in coming weeks to cost whatever he says he wants to do in tax so that we can see what it means and the billions of dollars it would cost."

But opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey said the coalition was not going to take lectures from Labor.

The latest opinion poll shows Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott overtaking Julia Gillard as preferred prime minister for the first time.

The Newspoll, published in today's Australian newspaper, shows 41 per cent of people prefer Mr Abbott, compared to 39 per cent for Julia Gillard.

Ms Gillard's satisfaction rating is down two points to 28 per cent, her lowest since becoming leader.

Her satisfaction rating has now dropped by 22 points since she announced a carbon tax.

Labor's primary vote has slipped one point to 30 per cent, while the Coalition's support remains steady at 46 per cent.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/28/3255054.htm?section=justin

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New research shows support for taking action on climate change is falling steeply.

The Lowy Institute's annual poll asked about 1,000 people for their opinions on a range of topics, including climate change and the war in Afghanistan.

The poll shows that there has been a steep fall in the number of Australians who think climate change is a serious problem which needs addressing now.

It says 41 per cent of respondents want to see action even if it means a significant cost, down 27 percentage points since 2006.

Thirty-nine per cent of poll respondents said they would not be willing to pay anything extra on their electricity bill to help tackle climate change.

Institute director Michael Wesley says the survey also shows 75 per cent of adult Australians believe the Federal Government has done a poor job addressing the climate change issue.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/27/3253948.htm?section=justin

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Gus: what a sad stupid bunch we are... We don't want to pay more for our electricity which most of us won't because we'll get a full tax rebate and we don't wan't to protect the planet against global warwing...  In turn global warming is going to increase our insurance bill by 500 per cent within 20 years and possibly 1000 per cent by 2050... but we don't care, it's winter. We don't feel any warmer than in summer... thus global warming does not exist... IDIOTS! We're listening to the idiot Abbott, the idiot shock jocks, the idiot scribes who are lying through their idiotic teeth so the rabid extreme right can stuff up our idiotic lives with more idiotic promises... We're morons of little intellect. We pay more attention to a state of origin biffo that try to understand the sciences of the earth... Dear me... And we plonk an idiotic poll into our idiotic arse...

Sad sad sad...

The head of one of Australia's biggest banks has thrown his support behind the proposed carbon tax.

National Australia Bank chief executive Cameron Clyne says there is bipartisan agreement that carbon levels need to be cut by 5 per cent by 2020.

Mr Clyne says he is not a climate scientist so he cannot say which of the two policies on the table would cut achieve the 5 per cent target.

However, he told a forum in Melbourne that from an economic perspective the Government's plan is better than the Opposition's.

"If you're asking for an economic assessment of the two, the carbon price followed by an ETS (emissions trading scheme) is economically superior to the direct action policy," he said.

"It will drive certainty, it will drive investment, so as a straight comparison between the two, that's the choice."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/06/28/3255813.htm

see toon at top...

THE Gillard government's plan to put a price on carbon and then introduce an emissions trading scheme is "economically superior" to the Coalition's "direct action" policy for carbon abatement, according to National Australia Bank chief executive Cameron Clyne.

At a Melbourne business lunch today, Mr Clyne said the government's plan was superior because it would "drive certainty and investment".

"If you are asking for an economic assessment of the two (policies), a carbon price followed by an ETS is economically superior. It will drive certainty and investment," the NAB chief told a lunch organised by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia.

There was bipartisan agreement, he said, on the policy objective, which was a 5 per cent decline in the level of emissions in 2000 by 2020.

While the nation should choose the better of the two policies on offer, Mr Clyne said that was "not the way the debate has been framed".

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/labors-carbon-plan-superior-than-the-coalitions-nab-chief-cameron-clyne/story-e6frg8zx-1226083595965

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At last, some business people get it...

Downton Abbey, Channel Seven's fabulous Sunday night soap, got political last weekend. Lady Sybil, spirited third daughter of the Earl of Grantham, was knocked senseless when a truckload of Tory bruisers turned up to wreck an election meeting.

I could watch this show all night, if only to enjoy Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess acting the rest of the cast off the set. Then there is the eldest daughter, Lady Mary, played by Michelle Dockery, a pre-Raphaelite goddess of exquisite cheekbones, eyes to drown in, and a silken voice to stir the most flaccid loins.

The politics was good, too. And instructive. In 1914, Britain was run by the minority Liberal government of prime minister H.H. Asquith, an administration you might loosely describe as soft centre-left and which laid the foundations of the welfare state. The Liberals actually held fewer seats than the Conservative opposition in the House of Commons, but they clung to office with the support of the emerging Labour Party and a handful of Irish nationalists. If this has a familiar ring, read on.

Asquith's cabinet bulged with talent. The dazzling though treacherous David Lloyd George was Chancellor of the Exchequer and Winston Churchill, grandson of a duke, who had ratted on the Conservatives to join the Liberals, had been Home Secretary and then First Lord of the Admiralty.

Great events crowded in upon them: a naval arms race that would see a generation butchered at war with Germany; the Irish demand for Home Rule. But they did things.

Asquith and Lloyd George infuriated the Tories by curbing the power of the House of Lords and squeezing the rich to pay for such socialist wickedness as the aged pension and sick leave. The country was in constant uproar over the suffragette campaign for women to get the vote, which is how Lady Sybil came to get stiffed by the Tory toughs.

Australia in 1914 was well up on that game. Women had won the vote in South Australia in 1894, and in 1902 the franchise spread to every (white) woman in the new federation. British women didn't catch up until 1928.

In those times Australians had the courage of their convictions. The Abbotts and Joyces of the day stamped around the countryside predicting catastrophe if the fair sex was let into the polling booth, but our forebears were not afraid of reform, no matter how far ahead of the world it might propel them.

A century on, wealthier than ever, better educated than ever, we are more timid than ever. Our politicians are in thrall to pollsters, focus groups and spin doctors. Hey, it's The New Julia. Watch and learn as Tony irons a shirt. We the people cower beneath the lash of the shock jocks, the Murdoch press, and all the clanking, belching, honking, gimcrack apparatus of political duplicity, right-wing reaction and corporate bullying.

We squib the big decisions, not daring to move until someone else jumps first. Climate change: pretend it's not happening and, if it is, there's nothing we can do about it. A national broadband network: a bit beyond us, really. Afghanistan: whatever the Americans think best. Refugees: bugger 'em, perhaps those nice Malaysians might help. A republic: gosh, it would offend the Queen.

Tomorrow night, Downton Abbey gets shoved aside for the final of the hideous Dancing With the Stars. Crap trumps quality every time. Sometimes you could just weep.

Mike Carlton