The Australian government will work with exporters to limit potential losses under its carbon emissions trading plan, Treasurer Wayne Swan said yesterday.
Australia will introduce trading from the middle of 2010 to help tackle climate change and meet an emissions limit to be set later this year. The plan will affect 1,000 businesses that produce an annual equivalent of more than 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, with the government to compensate power producers and households while issuing free permits to industry.
Business groups are concerned higher energy costs may cut earnings at the resource companies driving Australia’s growth. Woodside Petroleum Ltd, Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, said last week it could shelve two liquefied natural gas projects, each worth A$30 billion (US$29 billion), because the government’s plan penalizes gas exports.
“While the government wants to make a solid statement about carbon emissions, they don’t want the economy to suffer,” said Gavin Wendt, head of resources research at Fat Prophets Funds Management in Sydney.
“Industry know they have to be seen to be doing something and there has to be flexibility as the policy is implemented, especially for the resources sector,” he said.
There will be a limited number of permits available to “emission intensive” industries, Swan told the Ten Network’s Meet the Press yesterday.
“We’ll take our time to talk to industry,” Swan said. “We will put forward a responsible position which is economically responsible and affordable and which protects those export- orientated industries that are emissions intensive.”
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd released a discussion paper last week on the plan to reduce carbon emissions.
He needs support from the opposition or from minor parties to pass laws through the Australian Senate next year as his Labor government doesn’t hold an outright majority in the nation’s upper house.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique