Here is Peter Martin:
Last July, Treasury said the tax would push up the consumer price index 0.70 percentage points, adding $9.90 per week to average household costs. In return, households were given compensation averaging $10.10 per week.
But 0.70 percentage points looks like being an overestimate. Inflation figures for the September quarter – the one that encompasses almost all of the electricity and gas price rises – show them adding 0.44 points to the CPI. It’s a big figure, but not that much bigger than the usual September quarter slug.
He is discussing one quarter – compare that to what Treasury said (emphasis added):
Most of the effect on consumer prices occurs in the first year of the fixed price period. Overall consumer prices increase by 0.7 per cent in 2012-13 under a $23 carbon price. On average, household spending is expected to increase by less than $10 per week. The consumer price impact on different goods depends on the emissions intensity of their production. Household expenditure, on average, is expected to increase by $3.30 per week due to higher electricity prices and by $1.50 per week due to higher gas prices.
Then we have this footnote to table 5.19:
The dollar per week impacts are the average across households, not the impact on an average household.
Not quite what Martin describes.
Martin is one of the government’s go-to journalists. For example, he had access to the Henry Report well before it was released. He is often used as a conduit of information from Treasury to the public. Nothing wrong with that – journalists have sources and angles, and that is his angle. I raise the point because this article must be seen in that context. Government (and Treasury?) would like us to believe that the carbon tax is on track, the modelling all fine, and concerns about utility prices overblown.
Yes, they are. That’s why I should just blithely ignore the fact that my first quarterly utility bill post CO2 tax was $200 higher than last year’s equivalent and the fact that a litre of PULP is now costing me $1.80, as opposed to $1.50 three months ago.
Stupid, lying dunderheads – and I include martin in that damning.
Rabz
25 Oct 12 at 9:05 am
Great, a tax designed to make fossil electricity, which is all we have, more expensive is working by not making electricity more expensive.
This is bastardry once again by the left msm.
cohenite
25 Oct 12 at 9:11 am
Martin went into my personal labor shill bucket years ago.
Keith
25 Oct 12 at 9:23 am
@Rabz And what do you think has increased the cost of PULP that much? You’re not seriously arguing it’s due to a tax which isn’t (directly) applied to it? Of course we’ve never seen fuel prices vary this much before, have we?
cratou
25 Oct 12 at 9:44 am
As for the article, I think you’re just parsing it incorrectly, Sinclair. “average household costs” can be either the average of all household’s costs, or the costs of average households. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t referring to the former. No doubt I’m just wrong though.
cratou
25 Oct 12 at 9:49 am
The only potential upside to this knee padding and papering over of the cracks of S..S Gillard is that the public backlash might be a lot larger than expected and the ALP perform like or worse than in NSW and QLD recently.
We can only hope.
What are this guys quals? He’s not a fraud like Gittens is he?
.
25 Oct 12 at 9:52 am
No we haven’t. Oil is moderately priced and the dollar is high.
.
25 Oct 12 at 9:54 am
crapou,
Your comment is not worthy of a response.
Rabz
25 Oct 12 at 10:00 am
Again, this is stupid; the tax was designed to make fossil power, the only type we have, more expensive to the point where it was not used. That is what the tax is designed to do.
Martin’s article is idiotic and so is your comment.
cohenite
25 Oct 12 at 10:04 am
Thanks Cohenite.
My sentiments exactly.
Rabz
25 Oct 12 at 10:10 am
Pity he obviously doesn’t listen to Steve Price or others at 2gb. Last night Steve and Bolta had people ring in with much larger increases in their power bills–over a hundred dollars in some for a quarter– while very little had changed in the consumption figures.
Im now fearful of what my next bill, the first full quarter with Co2 tax will show ,and have decided not to spend a dollar I don’t need to until it arrives–I will be mortified if I have to ask for an extension to pay because even as an OAP I’ve always paid on time but cannot cut usage any further. Bastard lying Labor government and bastard Greens party wreckers!
Jazza
25 Oct 12 at 10:26 am
I saw the article this morning and had a funny feeling Martin was comparing apples with watermelons. I always think Martin is an honest kinda guy, but we’re all prone to confirmation bias.
Pedro
25 Oct 12 at 10:45 am
Fairfax lost $2.7 billion last year, but Peter don’t worry you still have a job for life son. You can believe this as your munificent PM will guarantee it! After all Julia is your PM isn’t she?
To the Spencer St Soviet money is a myth which they can (and soon will) do without.
Bruce
25 Oct 12 at 12:37 pm
Power down here was 27c and change per kWh last quarter.
At those sort of numbers its looking worthwhile to find a fuel burner of some sort to generate electricity for myself. Have to do some numbers on that.
Driftforge
25 Oct 12 at 1:38 pm
Martin’s principled opposition to the gigantic boondoggle of the NBN should not be forgotten.
He is not a complete ALP shill. He just tends to write with his own spin (pro ETS anti-NBN) on things.
Steve X
25 Oct 12 at 3:51 pm
Drift – please let us know if you find something. My electricity rates are even higher than that and I would love a wood-fired generator (for its anti-green aspect as much as anything else).
Chris M
25 Oct 12 at 9:53 pm
http://www.nyethermodynamics.com/t98-nt-xx/index.html
wreckage
25 Oct 12 at 11:35 pm
Link to wood fired turbine.
wreckage
25 Oct 12 at 11:36 pm
Thanks, the first link works.
Chris M
25 Oct 12 at 11:51 pm
The Nectre Mega wood fired heater can take a water jacket and pre-heat your hot water as well, and is available off-the-shelf in Australia.
wreckage
26 Oct 12 at 10:08 am