Menzies House

Climate Royal Commission

We need a Royal Commission into the science of climate change, not Julia Gillard's one-sided climate change committee, writes Dr Dennis Jensen MP.

Admission to the Gillard government’s climate change committee is very similar to admission to the former Soviet Union’s parliament, only people of one view need apply! In the case of the Soviet Parliament, in order to stand for election, you needed to be a member of the Communist Party (perhaps this is why the premise for the committee has so much appeal to Gillard, given her previous membership of the Socialist Alliance – a group who were essentially communist in outlook). In order to get onto the climate change committee, not only do you need to be a signed on anthropogenic global warming believer, but you also need to believe that the only way that you can address the problem is not only through abatement of carbon dioxide emissions, but you need to apply a price on carbon dioxide.

Why I am opposed to the Resource Super Profit Tax

Dr Dennis Jensen MP argues against Labor's proposed resources super profits tax.

The Gillard Labor government would have you believe that the resource super profit tax (RSPT) is necessary to ensure that Australia gets its fair share of the profits earned by miners in the current “mining boom”.

In order to deal with this fraught issue, first let’s consider the current picture. Labor would have you believe that the current system (and we will ignore things like various other taxes that companies already pay) that the royalties are only paid on the volume (or tonnage) sold, so increased prices only go to the miners’ profits. This is not true; the royalty is a combination of the volume as well as the value. If the price goes up, the royalties go up.