Gillard scraps climate assembly

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has scrapped her election promise of a citizens'
assembly to deal with climate change, a scheme the opposition described as a dud
anyway.
Ms Gillard said other aspects of the party's election platform - including
subsidising the replacement of older cars, rolling out renewable energy projects
linked to $1 billion of new transmission lines and improving energy efficiency -
would still go ahead.
Ms Gillard on Thursday chaired the first meeting of the multi-party climate change
committee - one of the promises made to the Australian Greens and independents to
gain support to form minority government.
In a communique released after the meeting, the committee confirmed its intention to
"work co-operatively across party lines in considering all the options for a price
on carbon".
Ms Gillard told reporters in Canberra the committee - which will meet monthly until
the end of 2011 - had advised against holding a citizens' assembly.
Instead, the committee will publicly release details of each of its meetings and a
new climate change commission would be set up to promote "greater understanding of
the challenges of climate change" through public forums.
Opposition climate action spokesman Greg Hunt said the much-lampooned citizens'
assembly was the second big Labor environment policy to be ditched, following the
bedrock promise that there would be no carbon tax.
"If Julia Gillard can manage to mangle her citizens' assembly and carbon tax
promises, how can the public trust her not to double electricity prices," he said in
a statement.
"Of course the citizens assembly was a dud. Everyone knew it. Even her colleagues
were embarrassed by it.
"This is policy humiliation for the PM."
Ms Gillard said the government's new Climate Change Commission would have its own
website but there were no plans at this stage for a major advertising campaign.
"The committee concluded that ... the proposal of a citizens' assembly should not be
implemented and that there will be other ways of harnessing public dialogue
engagement in the science of climate change and engagement in questions of pricing
carbon," Ms Gillard said.
Ms Gillard said that not having a price on carbon was impacting on electricity
prices for working families and it was important to get it right.
"These (power prices) are a big pressure on working families and many experts will
tell you that one of the problems with electricity generation is uncertainty about
pricing carbon preventing people from making long-term investment and that puts
upward pressure on prices," she said.
The committee meeting was also attended by Australian Greens leader Bob Brown,
Climate Change Minister Greg Combet and independent MP Tony Windsor and was
"advised" by Greens MP Adam Bandt and parliamentary secretary Mark Dreyfus.
Four expert advisers - economist and 2008 report author Ross Garnaut, Will Steffen
from the ANU Climate Change Institute, Rod Sims from Port Jackson Partners, and
Patricia Faulkner from KPMG - were also present.
Questioned about the attendance of Mr Bandt and Mr Dreyfus, who are not members of
the committee, Ms Gillard said they were there to assist Senator Brown and Mr Combet
in their work.
The committee also received an update on the government's proposal for an expert
body to investigate international carbon prices and for Professor Garnaut to update
his climate change review.



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