Australia must reduce its carbon pollution emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 if it is to help the globe avoid catastrophic climate change, according to Charles Sturt university (CSU) climate policy expert Professor Kevin Parton.

 

“We must put a price on carbon now, while the costs to our economy and environment are relatively small,” says Professor Parton, a leading researcher with the University’s Institute for Land, Water and Society. 

 

“According to figures from the Australian Treasury, the average Australian will this year earn around $60 000. If we have a carbon tax, in real terms the average Australian will earn close to $90 000 in 2050. If we don’t introduce a carbon tax, it should be about $93 500, only $3 500 more in 40 years. This assumes we have not destroyed our climate between 2011 and 2050 through our inaction.

 

“If we do not price carbon soon, it reveals that we are a greedy nation that doesn't care about its children. They will reap the benefits, or costs, that we heap on them.”

 

Professor Parton said that each Australian family and business will in the short term be affected differently by the current carbon tax proposal, and “some will receive a net benefit, particularly low income families, and some will lose, particularly rich households and big polluting businesses.

 

“However, we must all pull together across the nation to show the world what can be done to address this growing disaster. It is time for statesmanship, not petty politics and cynical, short-term, greedy thinking.