Opposition to Australia’s planned carbon tax is swelling, with almost 60 percent of voters against the plan and major food retailers, miners, energy and agriculture firms writing letters to the prime minister opposing the tax.
The Australian Food and Grocery Council said the carbon tax would increase the cost of food and grocery manufacturing, while the Business Council of Australia said it could damage the country’s export competitiveness and drive production offshore.
A poll of 1,400 people, carried out at the end of last week and published yesterday, found that 59 percent of respondents opposed the plan, up 3 percentage points from the last survey last month.
A letter by the Business Council said a carbon policy without adequate compensation for Australian industries could force production to move offshore to countries with less rigorous climate policies.
It also said that a carbon tax would have limited impact on global greenhouse emissions as Australia only accounts for about 1.5 percent of emissions.
“In framing our carbon pricing policy Australia should act in tandem with international action, not ahead of it,” council president Graham Bradley said in a letter made public yesterday. “To do otherwise means that important manufacturing, agricultural and resource-based businesses will be disadvantaged.”
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