In response to my Opinion article on September 8 on the costs of the carbon tax, the British High Commissioner (Letters, September 14) rejects the estimate of Prime Minister David Cameron's energy adviser that the carbon tax would raise UK energy costs by 30 per cent. The High Commissioner says, ''UK domestic energy bills will be just 1 per cent higher because of climate change policies''. This astonishing claim defies logic. It is at odds with all serious studies including that of Australia's Productivity Commission, which estimated that carbon abatement measures had raised UK electricity prices by 17 per cent in 2010, a level that must increase further with the planned additional reductions in carbon emissions.
On the same day a rambling letter by [philosopher] Karey Harrison cites the discredited Clive Hamilton in an ad hominum attack on me. Farcically, she argues that the carbon tax redresses fossil fuel subsidies, provides compensation for the increased flood and hurricane damage, and is an antidote to the barriers to entry into energy supply.
None of these claims holds water. Fossil fuel production pays taxes rather than energy from wind and other renewables that relies on subsidies. Indeed, last year the government reported to the G20 that Australia has no ''inefficient fossil fuel subsidies''. Nor is there any likelihood of additional extreme events of nature as a result of our carbon emissions. And the only barriers to entry in Australian energy markets are those that have been created by government carbon tax policies that would savagely undermine investment.
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