Good on you, Australia! Nationwide carbon tax to be instituted

Australia burns a lot of coal and exports a lot more, so it's admirable that they've overcome their political inertia and will apparently pass a carbon tax.

The rest of the world would do well to watch, and then to emulate the Aussies.

Australia Cabinet to vote on carbon tax

"Under the controversial tax, Australia's 500 highest-polluting companies will pay $24 per ton of carbon pollution they emit beginning July 1, 2012. In addition, a market-based carbon trading scheme would be introduced in 2015, allowing major polluters to buy offsetting shares in companies producing emissions less than target levels."

Apparently a lot of Australians don't like it. Big deal; the government is actually doing what governments should do, putting self-interest and potential political self-preservation behind them in the interests of long-term planning and what's truly best for the country. Sometimes elected representatives have to believe that they were elected because the people that elected them expected them to use their best judgment, not always act as if solely motivated by political machinations.

Australian Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said Wednesday the government has ruled out putting off the carbon tax.

"This is a reform that is in our economic interests to make," he told Sky News.

"This will drive investment in new technologies, innovation, it will improve the productivity of our economy over time -- there is no case for delaying it here."

Like I said, good on you, Australia.