Downsizing Australia’s Government and Repealing Green Laws

canada free press ^ | 5/9/2014 | Alan Caruba

[rktman]

Try to imagine a commission of the U.S. government recommending that it get rid of the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, countless agencies, and, for good measure, restructure Medicare so it doesn’t go broke. There are few Americans who will argue that our federal government isn’t big enough and many who trace our present problems to Big Government.

That is why what has been occurring in Australia caught my attention because its voters rid themselves of a political party that imposed both a carbon tax and renewable energy tax on them. The purpose of the latter was to fund the building of wind turbines and solar farms to provide electricity.

Taxing carbon emissions—greenhouse gases—said to be heating the Earth has happily died in the U.S. Senate, but in Australia the taxes were a major reason that the Liberal Party (which is actually politically conservative despite its name) took power after a former Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, pushed it and the renewable energy tax through its parliament.

[rktman]

Now, if there was only some way to repeal their anti-gun laws, we'd be talkin'. Will the low/no info voters ever wake up in this country?

[naturalman1975]

“As of this writing, the repeal of the two Green laws is in the Parliament’s Senate after having won assent in the lower House. A September 2013 election provided enough new Senate lawmakers to ensure the repeal.”

Unfortunately, not so. Repeal is reasonably likely after the new Senators take office on 1st July, but is far from certain.

It relies on some minor party Senators being willing to support the government, and while enough of them are generally conservative that we hope for their support, they know they are in a position to ask for a lot of stuff for their vote, and some may turn out to ask for more than the government is going to want to give.