Australian public hasn't a clue about the ETS

We suspected this, but an (admittedly) small poll has revealed that the Australian public are mind-numbingly ignorant about the ETS (even what is stands for), and its effect on prices:

Only about 15 people out of 100 surveyed for The Punch could correctly say what ETS stood for, while only one person in the survey correctly named the expected increases on household power bills - and he guessed.

The ETS, currently expected to come into operation in 2011, will transform the Australian economy by forcing businesses to buy licences to emit carbon.

The scheme has been at the core of political debate in Canberra for the past two weeks and is threatening to split the Coalition, with the Nationals entirely opposed to the introduction of the scheme.

It will lead to increases in the prices of a range of goods and services. If the price of emitting a tonne of carbon is $25, the federal government estimates average monthly electricity and gas bills will go up by $6 and $2 respectively.

And Krudd & Co will be very happy to keep it this way, because if the public really understood what the ETS would do to the Australian economy, to jobs, to everyday life, they would never get it through the door.

Read it here.