[Greens-Media] To cut tax or not to cut tax: Give money back with energy efficiency

[Hollo, Tim (Sen C. Milne)]

To cut tax or not to cut tax: Give money back with energy efficiency

Canberra, Wednesday 20 February 2008  Australian Greens climate change
spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, today called on Prime Minister
Rudd to follow expert advice and abandon tax cuts in favour of an
ambitious project to retrofit Australia's 7.4 million homes with energy
efficiency measures.

Senator Milne said "Taking a proportion of the billions allocated to tax
cuts and investing them instead in the Greens' energy efficiency
strategy would bring together the advice of leading economists,
including Bernie Fraser today, and McKinsey and Co and the host of
others who have advocated investing in energy efficiency.

"It would massively reduce greenhouse emissions, deliver Australian
families savings on their energy bills, boost jobs and the manufacturing
sector, and would be a non-inflationary investment in Australia's
infrastructure.

"Australian families do need to have the pressure taken off household
fixed costs, but they understand that tax cuts and wage increases are
inflationary, and they don't want their Government to take that path."

The Energy Efficiency Access and Savings Initiative, or EASI, announced
before the last election, would:
*	organise a free energy audit by an accredited auditor;
*	advise householders of all efficiency opportunities with a
payback period of ten years or less;
*	organise and pay the upfront costs of implementing
cost-effective opportunities such as ceiling, wall and floor insulation,
solar hot water systems, efficient lights and shading of windows;
*	collect repayments as a proportion of savings on the home's
energy bills over a ten year period. Repayments will be less than the
savings on energy bills so that no householders will ever be "out of
pocket".

If fully implemented, EASI would reduce greenhouse emissions by close to
30 million tonnes each year, achieving almost 10% of the emissions
reductions required by the Greens' target to reduce emissions to 30%
below 1990 levels by 2020. The total cumulative cost of the program is
projected to be $22 billion over 10 years, which will be recouped by the
Government in a HECS-style repayments scheme through energy bills.

"Ask any householder whether they would rather have a small amount of
cash in hand or whether they would like to permanently keep their
household energy bills down, saving increasing amounts of money as
energy prices rise on the back of a carbon price. From my conversations
around Australia, I am sure families would warmly welcome the Government
investing in household energy efficiency, addressing their needs without
fuelling inflation.

"This is a classic case of the old adage: Give a man a fish and feed him
for a day. Teach a man to fish and he has food for life."

Contact: Tim Hollo on 0437 587 562

Tim Hollo
Media and Communications Adviser
Senator Christine Milne
Phone: + 61 (0) 2 6277 3063
Mobile: + 61 (0) 437 587 562
Email: tim.hollo at aph.gov.au
Skype: timhollo

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