Tony Abbott's Repeal of Carbon Tax First Ever Step Back in Climate Policy

On July 17^th the Australian government made the decision to repeal the carbon tax, which was meant to levy the amount of carbon produced. This marks the first time in history that a country has taken a step back in preserving the environment.

Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott has a reputation for working against climate control measures. Over the years Abbot has denied climate change, calling the science behind it "absolute crap." After his election in September of 2013 he pushed to remove Labor created agencies that were focused on keeping the public informed about climate change.

While Abbott was campaigning to be Prime Minister in 2013 he promised to get rid of the tax. His reasoning being that it would be able to reduce homeowner's electric bills. What he has decided to replace it with is a tax-payer funded incentive for businesses to use cleaner energy.

While Abbott rejoiced at the removal of the tax, calling it a "useless, destructive tax which damaged jobs, which hurt families' cost of living and which didn't actually help the environment." Other political groups, especially those centered on climate control, said that the removal of the tax had made Australia an embarrassment to the world.

One of the Labor senators, Lisa Singh said that, with one vote, the nation had moved backwards and "Australia will today be a laughing stock to the rest of the world".

The problem with the entire situation is that the tax, when put into action during Labor's tenure in 2010, was that most people didn't want it. Labor had promised not to bring a carbon emission tax into play, but thanks to pressure from the Greens, then Prime Minister Julia Gillard went back on her word.

The tax was placed on 350 of Australia's biggest carbon producers, which included coal burning power plants. After electric bills started to rise the Labor's popularity plummeted quickly. With Abbott's repeal of the bill families were promised to save AU$550 a year and the competiveness of the country would grow.

Getting rid of the bill is stain against climate control. This situation shows that, at the end of the day, the general public may not care as much about the environment as they say.