Carbon-Trading Proposal Sparks Australian Business Revolt

VICTORIA'S biggest manufacturers have sought a meeting with Treasurer John Brumby to try to head off what they see as the Government's overly aggressive approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Business representatives have told The Australian that moves by Environment Minister John Thwaites on greenhouse will increase business costs and are a threat to investment in the state.

The lobby is organising several key chief executive officers to meet Mr Brumby late next week in the hope he can override his cabinet colleague. They will tell him that without investment, the Victorian economy will fail to grow at the rate the Government wants.

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The state's strength in manufacturing is based on cheap power from brown coal generators in the La Trobe Valley. The generators are also the worst polluters. Cement Industry Federation chief Robyn Bain said her industry's costs were so finely balanced that any extra cost would lead to swamping by imports from China, Indonesia and Thailand. One-third of the cost of a bag of cement is energy.

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Carbon trading operates as a tax on companies unable to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and business representatives say it would drive investment to developing countries that have no such carbon taxes."

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