Australia Passes Carbon Tax Bill

This is a link to a Bloomberg video in which an Australian Minister in charge of climate change policy defends the carbon tax, and the cap and trade program that was just passed by the Australian Parliament. The lovely woman who interviewed the Minister is typical of what we see in TV journalism. She knew little about the issue and had to review her notes to respond to his answers. Her first question had to do with a poll that showed that 60% of Australians were opposed to the tax. He responded by saying that it was the right thing to do, and that there would be long term benefits to the economy through investments in climate friendly sources of energy. She mentioned that political opponents intended to run against the plan. His response was that this would have no effect on the bill that has been passed by Parliament and is widely supported within government. Sometimes democracy works best when popular opinion polls are not used to make decisions.