President of Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) speaks about experience with the Carbon Tax in his country.

As from 01 January 2015, South Africa will have a carbon tax as part of the country’s efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan announced this, when he delivered his budget speech in February 2013. In the first five years of the tax, carbon will be priced at the rate of R120 per ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent, “with the rate increasing at 10 per cent a year during the first phase of implementation”.

According to a subsequent paper; Carbon Tax Policy Paper: Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Facilitating the Transition to a Green Economy that National Treasury released in May 2013, the proposed tax partly resembles an Australian carbon pricing policy introduced on 01 July 2012.

As part of preparing its submission to National Treasury, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) hosts a public seminar on the experiences with carbon tax in Australia.

The national president of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), Andrew Dettmer is in South Africa to share his country and AMWU’s experience on the carbon tax. . National Treasury has set 02 August 2013 as the deadline for public comments on its discussion paper.

Details of the public seminar are as follows:

DATE: Thursday 20 June 2013
TIME: 17h30 – 19h00
VENUE: Vincent Mabuyakhulu Conference Centre, 155 Bree
(cnr. Gerard Sekoto), Newtown in Johannesburg
Members of the media are hereby invited to attend and report.

Contact:

Castro Ngobese
National Spokesperson – 081 011 1137