''We owe the world an honest response to climate change,'' he said. ''Carbon transition is one of the biggest issues that will face Victorian businesses and families over coming years, but I have no doubt that we will in a few years be living in a carbon-managed economy.''
Today, Baillieu is less emphatic. It's not that he's against carbon pricing; he just doesn't like Julia Gillard's model. Bad for jobs, bad for costs, bad for Victoria.
But while the Victorian government has criticised the carbon tax in recent weeks, critics say its own environment credentials are weak.
The Coalition did not take an environmental policy to the election and, since winning office, it has given signals it may walk away from the state's legislated target of a 20 per cent reduction in emissions (beyond year 2000 levels) by 2020.
The legislation was introduced by the Brumby government and passed without opposition. Coalition MPs now describe it as ''aspirational''. Throw in the decision to let cattle back into the Alpine National Park, the possibility of more development in Melbourne's green wedges, and the scrapping of the climate change white paper - which proposed, among other things, the gradual closure of the Hazelwood power plant - and environmental groups are unimpressed. Read the full report here.
Source: Farrah Tomazin, Sydney Morning Herald.
