This, actually quite bland, carbon tax  ad has been causing aggravation downunder. The background to this is that during the last general election the Labour Leader (now Prime Minister) Julia Gillard, said that there would be no carbon tax under a Labour government. Post election, Labour had to pull off a deal with the Greens in order to get a working majority and now, hey presto!, a carbon tax is being introduced. Balancing genuine concerns for the environment with more practical considerations such as taxes and jobs is not easy at the best of times. It’s even more of a thorny issue in Australia because a good many of it’s major industries are extractive and likely to be heavily affected by any carbon tax. Plus, Australia is not too far away from India and China and I can’t see them falling over themselves to tax polluting industries any time soon – so Aussies feel that they are handicapping their economy whilst others won’t follow suit. I’m afraid it will take more than Cate’s ethereal beauty and Michael Caton’s matey charm to sort that one out.

The political fallout from this is, according to the latest poll,the voters want rid of Gillard and Labour BUT they are none too enthusiastic about Liberal leader Tony Abbott – his approval rating stands at just 37%. So rather, like the UK, Australia seems to be stuck with a government it doesn’t want and an opposition that doesn’t look a whole lot better.

Caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

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