Fat cat polluters beg for more taxpayer money

The CEOs of Australia’s top companies met Energy Minister Martin Ferguson inside Parliament House today in a desperate attempt to squeeze even more taxpayer money out of the federal government. The BCA began leaning heavily on the federal government last week, demanding even more compensation for big polluters under an emissions trading scheme (ETS).

Meanwhile, Greenpeace campaigners dressed up in fat cat suits and swilled champagne outside Parliament House. Impersonating big business, they held out buckets for free hand-outs and had signs pleaded their pathetic cause: ‘Spare some change for Fat Cats’, ‘Carbon Addict – Help Me!’ and ‘Carbon Club Needs Your Cash – Don’t Let Our Free Ride End’.

The federal government must make polluters pay for the damage they do to the environment otherwise we will never succeed in reducing carbon emissions to safe levels. By pressuring the government into providing economic support for high-polluting industries, the BCA is completely undermining the purpose of an ETS.

The whole point of an ETS is to reflect the true cost of carbon emissions. Everyone will have to pay the cost of climate change.

“Companies, such as BHP Billiton, Xstrata, Exxon Mobil, Cement Australia and Rio Tinto – which post billion dollar profits – should be the last on the list to receive government handouts,” said Greenpeace Climate and Energy Campaigner Trish Harrup.

“The federal government should be consulting with renewable energy businesses about how they can create new jobs and markets around clean products for the future, and not listening to cashed-up corporate fat cats who are relics of the coal age.”

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