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A tax won't fix climate change

It’s a debate with a decidedly apocalyptic ring: stand by while the dynamics of life on earth change irrevocably, or try to take action that may slow or halt the process – and in so doing possibly compromise our way of life. It’s a debate that challenges fundamental assumptions about evidence, responsibility and governance. Few issues of recent times have divided Australia as much as how we should respond to climate change. The Gillard government’s proposed carbon tax is the most controversial policy proposal in at least a decade. Proponents struggle to convince the public of the link between a new, broad-based tax and climate change mitigation, while opponents recite their mantra: “A tax won’t fix climate change”. This debate will tackle the scaremongering, dispel the fictions and, one can only hope, end the confusion.

Poll results

At each IQ² debate the audience is polled on the topic, both before and after the debate takes place. Here are the results for this debate:

	Pre-debate poll	Post-debate poll
For:	23%	25%
Undecided:	20%	7%
Against:	57%	68%

Watch the video

Speakers

For:

• Matthew Wright
  Matthew Wright is the lead author of the award-winning Zero Carbon Australia Plan and 2010’s Young Environmentalist of the Year. As founder and Executive Director of not-for-profit organisation Beyond Zero Emissions, Wright heads the fastest growing climate change research and development group in Australia.
• Sinclair Davidson
  Sinclair Davidson is a professor in the School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT University and a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Public Affairs.
• Stuart Allinson
  Stuart Allinson is a co-founder and director of Exigency, an independent, specialist energy and carbon market advisory firm. He is a member of the Coalition Advisory Council on Climate Policy.

Against:

• Dr Adam Bandt
  Adam Bandt is a Greens MP and the Federal Member for Melbourne. He was elected in 2010 when he made history by becoming the first Greens MP elected to the House of Representatives at a general election. He is the industrial relations and banking spokesperson for the Greens and a participant in the government’s Multi-Party Committee on Climate Change. He has written articles for many publications and has taught industrial relations law at RMIT. Dr Bandt is now a barrister who specialises in the field of industrial, employment and public interest law.
• Tim Flannery
  Born in Melbourne in 1956, Tim Flannery is a writer, scientist and explorer. He has written many award-winning books including The Future Eaters, Throwim Way Leg and Country. In 2005 The Weather Makers was published and became an international bestseller. He is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, the National Geographic Society’s Australasian representative and a director of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. In January 2007 Tim Flannery was named Australian of the Year and from 2007 to 2010 he was Chair of the Copenhagen Climate Council.
• Fiona O’Hehir
  Fiona O'Hehir is CEO of Greenbank Environmental. She has a technical background in electronics and power conversion for the solar industry and has been involved in the clean energy space for many years.

Chair:

Dr Simon Longstaff has a PhD in Philosophy from Cambridge. Prior to becoming the inaugural Executive Director of St James Ethics Centre in 1991, Dr Longstaff worked in the Northern Territory in the Safety Department of BHP subsidiary, GEMCO, lectured at Cambridge University and consulted to the Cambridge Commonwealth and Overseas Trusts. His book Hard Cases, Tough Choices was published in 1997. Dr Longstaff was inaugural President of the Australian Association for Professional & Applied Ethics and is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum. He is Chairman of Woolworths Limited Corporate Responsibility Panel and AMP Capital Socially Responsible Investment Advisory Committee and serves as Member on a number of Board Committees.