The government has released its consultation paper on proposed changes to the ETS. The short version: a three-year extension of the current "two for one" "transition" measure to 2015, and a three year extension of the agricultural exemption, to 2018. The latter alone costs us ~$650 million a year at Treasury's nominal $20 / ton carbon price (or $260 million a year at the current artificially-low-because-of-overallocation-and-bullshit-Chinese-CERs $8/ton), in addition to the longer-term environmental effects of not having any incentive to reduce pollution.
And meanwhile, the government is crying poverty over Paid Parental Leave. Yeah, right. As always, its a matter of priorities. And as always, National is willing to throw hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies at its farmer cronies, while leaving ordinary kiwis to go begging.
