THE Rudd Government will move to protect motorists from petrol price rises caused by its emissions trading scheme by cutting the federal excise by the same amount.
The Advertiser has learnt the federal excise, which now adds 38c a litre to petrol, will be reduced on a cent-for-cent basis to cover any increases on the price per litre associated with the new scheme.
Absolutely pissweak. Also futile, because petrol prices are going to continue to escalate anyway (so ignorant and angry motorists who blame the Australian government for that will stay angry) - only now there won't be as much money in the budget to cover ACTUAL solutions, like expanding public transport infrastructure.
And doesn't this completely counter the point of an ETS on fuel anyway? It means oil companies can simply pass the cost on to the Government, and won't have any incentive to improve their emissions at all. The worse they are, the more it will cost the taxpayer, in fact.
Stupid, stupid, stupid. Would've been better to do nothing.
