Николь Кидман, Алек Болдуин, Шарлиз Террон, Мария Шарапова, Эма Уотсон, Author: YU. A. VOINOVKeywords: Australia, Prime Minister Julia Gillard, air emissions tax Despite intense opposition, the ruling coalition (Australian Labor and a small Green party) still managed to approve in November 2011 in Parliament a new legislation on the carbon dioxide tax, which will be introduced from July 1, 2012. The new scheme is as follows: the 500 largest Australian companies - the main polluters of the environment - will be required to pay 23 Australian dollars per ton of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, with an annual increase of 2.5% (by 2015, it is planned to enter the market mechanism for trading quotas)1. As a result, the government, which is headed by the country's first female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, estimates that the national treasury will be replenished by billions of Australian dollars*. And this is very important, given the much-publicized task of reaching a budget surplus in fiscal year 2013 (the Australian fiscal year begins on July 1). Another argument that was actively used in the Prime Minister's campaign rhetoric is that Australia, as a member of the G20 (forum of the largest developed countries), one of the economic leaders in the Asia-Pacific region (APR), must strictly and consistently fulfill its international obligations, i.e. reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5% by 2020.2 The main goal of this process is to curb "dirty" production and gradually transfer the Australian economy to the rails of environmentally friendly development. Climate change experts, politicians, and environmental scientists recognize that charging for carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere is the most effective way to fight for environmental protection. The issue of introducing the tax has become a major topic in all the media in Australia, turning into a "front line" of confrontation between Labor and opposition forces. Liberal opposition leader Tony Abbott, ... Читать далее