Sixteen years ago, on this day, October 18th, 2010,
Business roundtable on climate change | climatechange.gov.au
Business roundtable on climate change
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18 October 2010
Media Release
Joint media release The Hon Wayne Swan MP Deputy Prime Minister, Treasurer
The Government announced today the membership of the new roundtable that has been established to engage the business community on the Government’s climate change policies.
The Roundtable will include business leaders from right across the economy, including major sectors like mining, transport, manufacturing, energy, retail and banking. The Roundtable will also include leading peak bodies, such as the Business Council of Australia, AI Group and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
This new Roundtable will play a critical role in providing advice to the Government on the economic and business issues surrounding climate change.
The introduction of a carbon price will reshape the business environment for all Australian companies, providing businesses with the certainty they need to begin the transition to a low pollution economy. This new Roundtable will ensure that the views of the business community are front and centre as we progress this important economic reform.
Business leaders around the country understand that if we are to remain internationally competitive over the long term, then our industries must become less carbon intensive. The best way of doing this is by establishing a carbon price in the economy.
The simple fact is that in order to promote business certainty and to underscore Australia’s long-term competitiveness, introducing a carbon price is the only economically responsible thing to do.
The roundtable will also discuss how the Government’s climate change policies intersect with our other economic policies, including tax reform.
The Roundtable will be co-chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer, Wayne Swan, and the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet. The Minister for Resources and Energy, Martin Ferguson, will also be a member.
The composition of the roundtable reflects extensive discussion with business leaders and peak bodies. To keep the Roundtable to a manageable size, the Government has not been able to accommodate all interested parties. Ministers will continue to be available to discuss issues with all parties as we develop our policy position.
Member organisations of the Business Roundtable and their representatives include:
- Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Peter Anderson
- Lend Lease, Maria Atkinson
- National Australia Bank, Cameron Clyne
- BHP Billiton, Hubrecht (Hubie) van Dalsen
- Investor Group, Nathan Fabian
- National Farmers’ Federation, Ben Fargher
- AGL Energy, Michael Fraser
- Qantas, Alan Joyce
- Origin, Grant King
- Woolworths, Michael Luscombe
- BlueScope Steel, Paul O’Malley
- Energy Supply Association of Australia, Brad Page
- Rio Tinto, David Peever
- Shell, Ann Pickard
- Australian Industry Group, Heather Ridout
- Business Council of Australia, Maria Tarrant
- Woodside, Don Voelte
- Clean Energy Council, Matthew Warren
- Toyota, Masahide (Max) Yasuda
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 337ppm. As of 2026, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was that the ALP had spent a chunk of the 2000s trying to turn climate change into an issue they could use to peel away voters from the Liberals under Prime Minister John Howard. In late 2006 their luck had changed and new leader Kevin Rudd was able to club Howard with the issue. Rudd had then absolutely destroyed his credibility, and – fatally – allowed his chief of staff to brief against Julia Gillard, his Deputy. Gillard finally snapped and Rudd slunk away without even a vote (he knew he’d be hammered). Gillard had then called a slightly-early Federal election.
The specific context – Gillard managed to promise “no Carbon Tax” in the last days of the campaign. Then, oops, didn’t win a majority and so needed the support of Independent MPs to form a government. And those who were up for supporting her wanted… a carbon price. Which would be hard to distinguish from a “carbon tax.” (It probably COULD have been done, but, well, for reasons, it didn’t happen). So here we see Gillard trying to get business on board…
What I think we can learn from this is that business will turn up for a “grip and grin” but will basically play dead if things get too hot around a policy issue, as they did the following year, when Tony Abbott, Liberal leader, launched his “great big tax on everything” campaign.
What happened next 2011 was a blood bath. Gillard got her legislation through, but it was a very Pyrrhic victory.
On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays
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What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.
If you want to get involved, let me know.
If you want to invite me on your podcast, that would boost my ego and probably improve the currently pitiful hit-rate on this site (the two are not-unrelated).
Also on this day:
October 18, 1973 – “how on earth do you stop using fossil fuels?”
October 18, 1974 – Weinberg’s “Global Effects of Man’s Production of Energy” published
October 18, 1983 – All US news networks run “greenhouse effect” stories
October 18, 1983- US news networks tell the truth about #climate. Yes, 1983.