SHOPS and restaurants could face fines up to $1.1 million if waiters or sales staff wrongly blame the carbon tax for price rises or exaggerate the impact.

ACCC deputy chairman Dr Michael Schaper told the Herald Sun companies were entitled to increase their prices and did not have to justify or explain why.

But if they blamed the carbon tax they must be able to prove it and not use it as a cover for other price increases related to wages, rent or stock.

"If a business claims that a price is linked to the carbon price, that claim must be truthful and have a reasonable basis,'' he said.

Dr Schaper said the warning applied to comments made by staff over the phone, on the shop floor or in meetings.
It also covers advertising, product labels, websites, invoices, contracts and contract negotiations.


www.dailytelegraph.com.au/nocookies?a=A.flavipes

Where were the GST cops when it started. golf club manufacturers had to pay a 25% importers tax, GST come in no importers tax. did the price on golf clubs drop Noooooooo

Let me see if ive got this right... So a moderately unpopular government bringing in a unpopular carbon tax, which will propably make them less popular is going to spend extra taxpayers $ on policing what people say so they don't become more unpopular?.

Yeah where is the guts to go after petrol co's?

Everything causes a rise - Aussie dollar up, prices up. Aussie dollar down, prices up. Long weekend - prices up
Etc

petermac33 said...

If a business owner claims the sea-level is not rising due to the burning of fossil fuel then the penalty must surely be death

Sea levels have been rising and falling since the beginning of time
Given glacial ice is melting at a rate that we have never witnessed before ( glacial ice not sea ice) and pouring millions of gallons of fresh water into the oceans isn't it sensible to assume that the water will affect sea levels?
History tells us this is so.

Where do you base your hypotheses on oh man of superior wisdom

I regularly go to an outside cafe in August in Melbourne. It's a beach themed restaurant and patrons are encourage to dine in bikinis and boardies.

In order to keep it warm they usually have all the gas burners going on full.

The cafe tables are very spread out so the waiters fly from table to table aided by rocket packs that they wear on their backs.

It's an English-themed cafe and all the food is flown in fresh every morning from London and then each menu item is driven individually to the cafe from the airport in a refrigerated hummer limo.

Last week they suggested that a long black may increase to a wallet busting $3.56 from $3.40. I'm outraged and I hope that the government fines the living **** out of them.

bobajob said...


Ie: A fisherman now uses more fuel to catch his fish because the sea level is rising and there fore there is more of it, he has to travell farther to catch fish. Now if they ask him to prove it, his agument would be straight back on the governments reason for implementing the tax.

The trucking company now has to fix more overheating trucks due to the warming climate - cost of freight goes up. (not to mention fuel costs)

First example is ridiculous.

He has to travel further to catch the fish? So assuming the ridiculous climate change scenario where the sea level rises 10m up and 100m up the beach. The fisherman now has to travel another 200m (there and back). He would be entitled to charge another 200m of fuel.

Trucking company example makes sense if you delete "to fix more overheating trucks due to the warming climate - cost of freight goes up. (not to mention" and just leave it as "Trucking company has fuel costs".


Going back to Crazy Pete's original comment.... if "staff WRONGLY blame".


It is supposed to make some things more expensive. It might make a locally made product cheaper relative to a trucked one. It might make insulating your house cheaper than buying more Kwh from the power company. It might make aluminium goods more expensive than steel. It might make solar panels cheaper relative to other sources.


The problem is that because

A) people are made stupid by media
B) one media outlet is owned by someone who hates the government
C) the other media outlet is owned by a miner who hates the carbon tax
D) the media have convinced people that the carbon tax will eat their children and bankrupt their businesses (see A-C above)
E) no one takes any ****ing responsibility for things and blames their own business's problems on everyone else and especially on the government (see A above)
F) inflation is based on people's behaviour and expectations as much as it is on economic fundamentals and people's behaviour is not going be rational in this situation (see A-E above)

A similar thing happened when the Euro came in. Nothing actually got any more expensive in real terms but because everyone thought everything was going to get more expensive they increased their prices and asked for pay rises. This made prices rise - which is unfair on pensioners because they can neither increase their business prices nor ask for a pay rise from their super.

Problem here is the right to free speech.
We are not free when we are threatened with fines for voicing an opinion.
Are you ever going to wake up ginger pom?

The old man that came across in dangerous sailing ships...that traversed the length of the continent...that was based on freedom and liberty and strength and honor...is a dying breed. And the new man is an individual who can't put 2 and 2 together,who can't think,and who accepts whatever he is told.

Alex Jones radio show 2007

petermac33 said...


We are not free when we are threatened with fines for voicing an opinion.

Example for you

A- I say "I think you have an ugly face" = Opinion

B - I punch you in the face because I think you have an ugly face = Unwarranted action



B is wrong

ginger pom said...

petermac33 said...

Problem here is the right to free speech.
We are not free when we are threatened with fines for voicing an opinion.
Are you ever going to wake up ginger pom?

Nope, we are not talking about free speech. Free speech is saying stuff - did you notice points A - C. I care about it too.

If you raise prices that is an action. All that the government is saying is

"You cannot say that you are increasing prices because of the carbon tax if you can't prove it."

spot on

petermac33 said...

If a business owner claims the sea-level is not rising due to the burning of fossil fuel then the penalty must surely be death

Actually a significant portion of sea level rise is to do with pumping water out of underground aquifers, which eventually makes its way to the sea...

www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128314-700-groundwater-greed-driving-sea-level-rises/?ignored=irrelevant

ginger pom said...

bobajob said...


Ie: A fisherman now uses more fuel to catch his fish because the sea level is rising and there fore there is more of it, he has to travell farther to catch fish. Now if they ask him to prove it, his agument would be straight back on the governments reason for implementing the tax.

The trucking company now has to fix more overheating trucks due to the warming climate - cost of freight goes up. (not to mention fuel costs)

First example is ridiculous.

He has to travel further to catch the fish? So assuming the ridiculous climate change scenario where the sea level rises 10m up and 100m up the beach. The fisherman now has to travel another 200m (there and back). He would be entitled to charge another 200m of fuel.

Trucking company example makes sense if you delete "to fix more overheating trucks due to the warming climate - cost of freight goes up. (not to mention" and just leave it as "Trucking company has fuel costs".


Going back to Crazy Pete's original comment.... if "staff WRONGLY blame".


It is supposed to make some things more expensive. It might make a locally made product cheaper relative to a trucked one. It might make insulating your house cheaper than buying more Kwh from the power company. It might make aluminium goods more expensive than steel. It might make solar panels cheaper relative to other sources.


The problem is that because

A) people are made stupid by media
B) one media outlet is owned by someone who hates the government
C) the other media outlet is owned by a miner who hates the carbon tax
D) the media have convinced people that the carbon tax will eat their children and bankrupt their businesses (see A-C above)
E) no one takes any ****ing responsibility for things and blames their own business's problems on everyone else and especially on the government (see A above)
F) inflation is based on people's behaviour and expectations as much as it is on economic fundamentals and people's behaviour is not going be rational in this situation (see A-E above)

A similar thing happened when the Euro came in. Nothing actually got any more expensive in real terms but because everyone thought everything was going to get more expensive they increased their prices and asked for pay rises. This made prices rise - which is unfair on pensioners because they can neither increase their business prices nor ask for a pay rise from their super.

I didn't realise the Euro was a tax. And isn't the Euro zone in the ****.

Bottom line- taxing the **** out of things doesn't bring prices down.

People are made stupid by the media, particularly the Government spin that doesn't mention where their little handouts are coming from.