Blowout: the real reason Rudd ditched his ETS

Andrew Bolt, Herald Sun (Australia)
"LEST anyone doubt the Rudd government’s commitment to its budget rules, it trashed its emissions trading system so that it could honour its commitment to keep spending growth below 2 per cent.Postponing the ETS does virtually nothing to improve national savings since the cash raised from auctioning permits to emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere almost exactly matches the cash paid out in compensation. ....The ETS was the biggest single contributor to that growth. The budget update showed that outlays on compensation for climate change rose from $430m in the upcoming budget year to $4.7bn in 2011-12 and $11.8bn in the following year."