Secretary speaks on climate change reform agenda

Dr Martin Parkinson, Secretary of the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, discussed the challenges of introducing an Australian emissions trading scheme at the ninth annual Sir Leslie Melville Lecture on Monday, 28 June 2010. He argued that the introduction of such a scheme in this country constitutes a significant economic reform and unlike other key reforms with such a broad impact across the economy, there has not been a broad consensus within the economics profession on the merits of this reform or the general approach to how it should be implemented. In part, he said, this is due to the complex and multidimensional nature of the climate change problem - it spans economic, environmental and science disciplines and requires a co-ordinated international response given the 'global commons' nature of the problem. This contrasts to previous reforms where the case for action and key policy choices have been largely internal to economics as a discipline, and national implementation has provided material benefits regardless of the actions of other nations. Dr Parkinson discussed the challenge of bringing an economic perspective to this issue and reflect on the success of the economics profession's engagement with the climate change debate in Australia in recent years. Read the full speech: >