The Prime Minister’s announcement of carbon tax exemptions for families and small businesses in purchasing petrol is nothing new, but sure to cause controversy, says Charles Sturt University (CSU) climate change expert, Professor Kevin Parton.
The University’s Professor of Business Management with CSU’s Institute for Land, Water and Society, says the exemptions announced last weekend by Prime Minister Julia Gillard “are good news for families and small business.
“The original [former Prime Minister Kevin] Rudd proposal had an initial three-year period of no carbon tax on petrol.
“On the other hand, environmentalists, the Greens and some economists won’t like the exemptions because, by making exceptions, it doesn’t give the price incentives for people to economise on goods, like petrol, that have high carbon content.”
Professor Parton, who is based in Orange, NSW, is available for further comment on the carbon tax and its possible effects on the Australian economy and society in regional Australia.

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