Media Release - Carbon Poverty On Goverment's Agenda

Catholic Social Services Australia's Executive Director, Frank Quinlan, has welcomed the release of the Federal Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Green Paper, saying the strategies outlined look set to ensure low-income households will not be further disadvantaged.

Speaking shortly after the release of the Paper today, Mr Quinlan said from the ground up, the opportunity exists to design a system that protects low-income households from a new form of poverty.

"We welcome the Government's recognition that low-income households face restrictions on their capacity to take up energy efficiency measures, due to insufficient access to capital as well as a lack of information and that even a modest increase in the cost of living impacts on household budgets," Mr Quinlan said.

"We welcome the Government's focus on those low-income households.

"Many people face the impact of disadvantage on many fronts including health inequities, access to education and the cost of living.

"We don't want to add carbon poverty to the list.

"In a joint submission to the Prime Ministerial Taskforce on Emissions Trading in April 2007 Catholic Social Services Australia called on the Task Group to assess emissions trading models against the equity principles of responsibility, capacity and vulnerability.

"We said that those people with the least capacity to contribute should not be forced to contribute on a scale that - while in absolute terms may seem small to others - is beyond their means.

"Today's Paper outlines broad principles to ensure low-income households will not be disadvantaged and we look forward to working with the Government on the detail in the lead up to the release of the final report later this year," Mr Quinlan said.

The Government commits to:

Increase payments, above indexation, to people in receipt of pensioner, carer, senior and allowance benefits and to provide other assistance to meet the overall increase in the cost of living flowing from the scheme.

Increase assistance to other low-income households through the tax and payment system to meet the overall increase in the cost of living flowing from the scheme.

Provide assistance to middle-income households to help them meet any overall increase in the cost of living flowing from the scheme.

Provide additional support through the introduction of energy efficiency measures and consumer information to help households take practical action to reduce energy use and save on energy bills so that all can make a contribution.

Review annually in the Budget context the adequacy of payments of beneficiaries and recipients of family assistance to assist households with the overall impacts of the scheme, noting that these payments are automatically indexed to reflect changes in the cost of living.

"We note that this adjustment will be in addition to the usual indexation to those payments," Mr Quinlan said.

"We welcome the Government's intention to consider the interrelationship between the tax and transfer payment systems and the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

"The measures to compensate the incomes of low-income households are welcome but we also need to ensure that low-income households have an opportunity to reduce their energy consumption to protect them from the effects of rising fuel costs for decades to come," Mr Quinlan said.

Catholic Social Services Australia provides services to over a million Australians each year through its 64 member agencies in remote, regional and metropolitan Australia.

16 July 2008                                                                             

CONTACT      Judith Tokley               0 6285 1366 / 0408 824 306