Protestors say no to carbon tax

Thousands of protesters gathered on Saturday at Hyde Park to raise their voices against the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard and her plans for a carbon emissions tax.

The Sydney protest comes hot on the heels of similar rallies in Melbourne and Canberra, but ultimately the message was the same.

The new tax, which is set to be implemented by July 2012, has heightened fears of competitive disadvantage for the Australian economy and protestors claimed it would threaten Australian jobs.

Senate Opposition Leader, Eric Abetz, told the crowd Australia would be pricing itself out of the world market and the tax would kill Australian manufacturing.

“This carbon tax will destroy household budgets, change retirement incomes… and change our way of life,” he said.

Senator Abetz said regardless of one’s view on climate change, the tax made no economic sense and Australia acting alone would only exacerbate the strain.

Rally attendee, Steve Fuller, said more direct action needs to be taken to protect the environment.

“I don’t like the lies; the truth is, they just want the money to feed the beast,” said Mr Fuller, who offered his alternatives.

“Planting more trees, desalinating rivers, [putting] less fertilisers on the land, using more natural products – it can be done.”

The core criticism of the rally was directed at the Prime Minister, who was accused of lying during the election campaign by saying there would be no carbon tax under any government she led.

Many of the signs and placards displayed familiar slogans reading: “Juliar – no carbon Tax!”

Other signs read: “Carbon Tax will destroy our jobs!”

For many protesters the carbon tax represents a financial burden, they are not willing to accept.

The general feeling among participants and speakers was that any potential positive effect of a carbon tax on the environment was questionable and would take far too long to have any bearing in their lifetimes.

They were however adamant the economic impact would hurt them almost immediately.

A rally participant who wished to remain anonymous said: “The climate is changing a bit, but not to any extreme conditions that are abnormal.”

He said the tax would be damaging to Australian businesses, which would in turn affect people like him.

“I am a shareholder in a number of companies and a self-funded retiree. If I don’t get my dividends, I have to fall back on the government.”

Rally participant, Graham Grives echoed another prominent sentiment at the event.

“When you look at China and India and the size of their population, Australia is just a minor contributing factor in terms of pollution,” he said.

Veteran rocker, Angry Anderson, served as master of ceremonies for the event, while other prominent speakers included the Member for Hughes, Craig Kelly MP and Mike Williams from the radio station, 2GB.

A petition of 25,000 signatures was presented to Senator Abetz, who promised to table it in Canberra.

With Alexander Meyer-Thoene