Just before last year’s Federal Election, SmartCompany ran a series of polls looking at who the SME community would support
While many supported the Coalition, we were surprised at the number of entrepreneurs who wanted to see action on climate change, and were deeply disappointed at the lack of policies either party had in this area.
Well, Julia Gillard certainly has a policy now. Yesterday’s decision to go back on a pre-election promise not to introduce a carbon tax will no doubt spark the biggest fight of her political life.
Tony Abbott has been quick to attack Gillard’s apparent backflip, and warn of a “people’s revolt” against higher energy prices.
The Opposition probably expects the business community to back this stance. But I am not sure it is as clear cut as that.
Most smart entrepreneurs realise that action on climate change in the form of some mechanism to put a price on carbon is coming sometime in the next five years. What entrepreneurs want to know is how it will work, how it will affect their business and what steps will they need to take to minimise any impact.
That’s why we didn’t really see any business groups come out against the Government’s plan yesterday. Instead, they called for more detail.
What would the carbon price be? What compensation details were there? What are the specifics for those industries affected? What are the timelines for the move towards an emission trading scheme? The devil, as they always say, will be in the detail.
The introduction of a carbon pricing scheme will not come as a surprise to business owners. But what the Government must do now is work closely with business – and particularly SMEs – to give them the certainty they need to prepare themselves and their companies.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
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