Let’s Tax Carbon: And other ideas for a better Australia
La Trobe University Press, $36.99 pb, 352 pp
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Dog days
Few books are greater than the sum of their parts – many are less. In the case of Ross Garnaut’s latest effort, the parts are greater than the sum. As a book, Let’s Tax Carbon: And other ideas for a better Australia succeeds and fails. It succeeds as a field guide to the past, present, and future of the Australian economy’s three big policy problems: transitioning to a net-zero carbon economy; reversing social and economic inequity; and creating new industries that secure the nation’s prosperity. But it fails as a work of non-fiction.
That is not to say that Let’s Tax Carbon should be avoided. Any book by Garnaut, a visionary economist and policymaker, is worth the price of admission. After all, Let’s Tax Carbon is crammed with ideas, arguing for structural reforms designed to tackle climate change, achieve full employment, boost incomes, and turn Australia into an energy powerhouse. It also builds on Garnaut’s three previous books – Dog Days: Australia after the boom (2013), Superpower: Australia’s low-carbon opportunity (2019), and Reset: Restoring Australia after the pandemic recession (2021). Why, then, does Let’s Tax Carbon feel unrealised?
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Let’s Tax Carbon: And other ideas for a better Australia
by Ross Garnaut
La Trobe University Press, $36.99 pb, 352 pp
ABR receives a commission on items purchased through this link. All ABR reviews are fully independent.
Comments (4)
You appear to be a master of presumption.
It's as much a mistake to judge someone by the newspaper they read as it is to judge them by the clothes they wear. As for me, I read a wide range of newspapers and periodicals (including the Guardian and the Murdoch press), not to mention books. I rarely agree with everything and sometimes agree with nothing, but that is not the purpose of reading.
Reading should not be comfort food.The purpose of intrepid reading should be to have beliefs challenged and minds expanded -- or as they say in The Simpsons 'embiggened'.
A final thought. I'm a journalist by training. I grew up in a newsroom and love Australian newspapers and believe our democracy is strong when they are strong. Right now, though, Australian newspapers are anything but strong -- and that is dangerous.
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