The federal government’s emissions trading scheme is in trouble. Richard Denniss looks at the alternative

IT IS OFTEN SAID that there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. But it seems that in the case of Minister Wong’s version of emissions trading, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, or CPRS, there is nothing less powerful than an idea whose time never actually came.

The flaws in the CPRS are becoming obvious, not just to the public but to the government itself. As the start date for the scheme approaches, the public and the parliamentarians are starting to look a little more closely at Minister Wong’s scheme and, as we saw with the debacle around the House of Representatives inquiry, they clearly don’t like what they are seeing.