(Image source: Sydney Morning Herald)

BY TRACY PFEIFFER

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

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After her predecessor failed to do so twice -- Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has unveiled a carbon tax package aimed at curbing pollution and encouraging greener practices.

Australia’s ninemsn explains the big points.

JO HALL, NINEMSN ANCHOR:“Australia’s biggest polluters will be charged $23 a tonne for the carbon they send into the atmosphere, while nine out of ten households will be compensated for the expected increases in the cost of living through tax cuts and handouts.

JULIA GILLARD, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: “We will use more than 50 percent of the money paid by big polluters to provide assistance to households.”

The tax is expected to increase the cost of living for Australian households by just under $10 a week -- and the money back from the government should amount to a little over $10 a week.

But opposition leader Tony Abbott says -- it’s an economy-killer.

"What's the point of all of this? … This is a redistribution pretending to be compensation. It's a tax increase pretending to be an environmental policy." (The Telegraph)

But in an interview with CNBC prior to the package’s release - Finance and Deregulation Minister Penny Wong says -- economic impacts were a high priority consideration in designing the package.

PENNY WONG: “What we have been focused on is understanding that this is a very important economic reform. It’s not just an environmental reform. It is about transforming the economy. That means you have to look at the nature of the market mechanism, the nature of the price signal, and what transitional arrangements you need to put in place to support industry as well as households.”

Still - an opinion writer for The Australian argues -- it’s not about the environment or the economy -- it’s just plain politics.

“The carbon tax is political theatre. … It is about securing the party's traditional support base by reminding us all that this is the party of redistribution. … And it is, more than anything else, about ignoring the fundamental reality that this tax will not have any material effect on carbon emissions here or globally.”

A commodities researcher tells the Financial Times -- in terms of the big picture, Australia’s move is a big push and quote- “renewed hope” for a global carbon market.

“If Australia had a trading system by 2015, California would be up and running by then so you would have Europe, Australia, California, New Zealand and South Korea. That is a non-trivial international configuration of countries.”

Finally, a writer for Bloomberg reports -- 60 percent of Australians oppose the plan, or one like it -- and argues, Gillard’s tenure as prime minister is at stake.

“Having secured the support of Greens and independent lawmakers whom she relies on for a majority, Gillard will need to counter a campaign against the plan by the hardest hit businesses as she takes to the road. At stake is her political future, with polls showing she is the most unpopular Australian leader in 13 years, ahead of elections that are due in 2013.”

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