Budget 2022 Submission: Carbon Taxation and Economic Justice

Community Law & Mediation (CLM) is not opposed to a carbon tax in principle, but believes that fuel poverty and lack of public transport infrastructure threaten to undermine the potential gains of any carbon tax measures brought in under Budget 2022.

Many of the people who access our services are locked into emissions due to factors beyond their control. If the rate of carbon taxation is increased, these people will be forced to pay a higher burden out of necessity – for example, if they do not have access to affordable clean energy and reliable public transport, they are unable to work from home, unable to afford an electric vehicle or unable to afford a home retrofit.

We are calling for the following in Budget 2022:

• Do not increase the rate of carbon taxation in Budget 2022
• Provide enhanced supports and retrofit programmes to address energy poverty on a cross-departmental basis.
• Cap the level of electricity energy demand that can be accommodated by the grid, and place a moratorium on data centre development until this policy is developed

Read the submission in full here.