To: Julia Gillard MP
Dear Julia,
Congratulations on becoming Prime Minister. I think you will do a great job. I was extremely disappointed when Kevin Rudd abandoned any effective action on climate change.
Here are some items I suggest you consider, with urgency:
- Negotiate with Greens and at least two Coalition Senators in the Senate to get a carbon tax in place - this would apply across all industries, not just mining, and the funds can be directed towards transitioning to a low carbon economy
- Remove perverse taxes that encourage fossil fuel use - such as car leases that require minimum kilometres to be driven, the diesel fuel rebate, and sundry others
- Allow tax deductions and/or salary packing for people who cycle to work
- Ditch the $2billion+ corporate welfare funding for "Clean Coal" geo-sequestration pipe dreams that defy the basic laws of physics and direct this towards a 100% clean energy program based on concentrated solar with salt storage and wind power.
- Commence planning for a very fast train project to link Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane.
- Introduce national building standards for 6 Star Rated buildings and retrofit of existing building stock (and keep Peter Garrett away from it)
- Protect native forests from logging to keep the carbon they store where it is, secure our water supplies and provide habitat for endangered species.
- Do not allow the burning of native forest woodchips as a "renewable energy source" - it clearly is not renewable and our forests are worth much more than woodchips.
- Commence an initiative to transition Australia to net zero emissions by 2020 - as outline in the Zero Carbon Australia 2020 Stationary Energy Plan produced by Beyond Zero Emissions
Regards, Peter Campbell
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