Unintended consequences. No longer gives sporting chance.

Open Letter to Prime Minister Ms Julia Gillard on Carbon Dioxide Taxringfield Tower
SPRINGFIELD CENTRAL QLD 4300

30 March 2011

Dear Ms Gillard,

I write as a concerned constituent and sporting club member of ‘unintended consequences’ about to hit families who support sporting clubs right across Australia because of ill-considered government policy on taxing carbon dioxide, an odourless, tasteless and invisible trace gas essential to life that makes up 0.38% of the atmosphere.

I have three boys playing Soccer at two different clubs, Brisbane Force and Oxley United Football Clubs. As a father and past player I am personally very concerned about the costs becoming more and more difficult for the average family to achieve each year.



The playing fees in 2011 cost $520, $375, and $240 respectively ($1135). These fees are legitimate for the club to survive and provide the excellent facilities and coaches we enjoy and our family pays them willingly by choice. Both clubs have graciously offered payment plans to such families because they need players to continue with the clubs despite their financial pain. This assistance is gratefully acknowledged. The fact remains the dollars remain increasingly scarce.

 As you know Ms Gillard, these costs on the ever-stretched family budget compete with many other demands for the same dollars. My two eldest boys attend Corinda State High School and the younger, Oxley State School. The ‘free’ public education demanding Resource Hire Scheme costs on students’ families, in our case, State School fees and uniforms exceed $1500.00 each year. Of course wise families pay by choice to obtain the many benefits for our kids and to avoid the pain and detrimental educational consequences of foregoing these necessities.

When associated costs for club, school and representative sport fees are considered, including several different sets of boots, uniforms, fuel and vehicle costs associated with transporting kids seven days a week, (yes 7), to training and game days throughout the season (year) are added, these costs bring the joy of such worthwhile activities into the position of being increasingly a burden out of reach for the average player's family.

Ten of thousands of families and players across Australia right down to local grass roots clubs of all sports benefit immensely every day from such worthwhile community participation, physical fitness, social cohesion, self discipline and enjoyment from participating in team sports.

Believe it or not, these social benefits to our society are under a new threat of ‘unintended consequences’ by federal government carbon price policy that will dry up already scarce resources in increases in the prices of everyday living expenses.
Drastically reduced discretionary spending may well force our family sporting activities to be withdrawn into the future. This is reality Ms Gillard and makes me very sad.

Whatever ones’ personal belief about Catastrophic Man Made Global Warming caused by Carbon Dioxide Emissions as claimed by some discredited scientist organisations and self-serving government economic advisors, the Gillard government Carbon Tax policy on Carbon Dioxide Emissions will ensure the slow death of most if not test the viability of every sporting club in the nation.

Please reconsider the ‘unintended consequences’ of this tax impost on ‘working families’ who sacrifice other expenditure for their children to play sport each week. One such ‘unintended consequence’ will be sporting clubs going to the wall because less and less people will be able to afford the costs of club player’s fees let alone everything else.

Your Labor Government Mr Ripoll, appears intent on introducing a regressive tax that will not only have an ongoing and increasingly devastating effect on the Australian economy and family budgets, it will have many other ‘unintended consequences’ on the very social fabric of society that provide many benefits for our children.

Assurances provided so far give NO confidence that ‘compensation’ to big polluters or households will do anything except lower our living standards in Australia. The money circle may potentially wipe out social capital by creating an economic bubble wasting Billions of subsidised dollars, and I mean Billions with a capital B, on ‘Green Energy Projects’ that equal BURNING OUR DOLLARS on useless and commercially unviable projects that fail as soon as government subsidies are withdrawn whilst remaining obliged to rely on reliable base load coal and fossil sources of energy.

Such Green Energy projects are unable to deliver base load power to the electricity grid in the foreseeable future and it is incredulous to suggest otherwise. Although I support a transition to alternative base load power generation, coal power must still exist or we will be literally in the blackout and ration stage of unreliable and very expensive energy.

Just look around the world to see what happens when citizens can no longer depend on government handouts to survive. Such government policy ultimately causes blood to flow in the streets as citizens respond to deaf and dumb governments. I’m sure you would agree we do not want to see such ‘extremist’ demonstrations here in Australia.

I peacefully protested for the first time in Brisbane King George Square on March 23, 2011 because I feel so strongly about this and do not like being labeled ‘extremist’ just because I disagree with you and hold steadfastly to a different position. I will continue to voice my will within the electorate of Oxley persuading voters to reject the Labor Government’s Carbon Dioxide Tax.

So Ms Gillard, why not redirect some of this Green Energy waste into community building programs such as sporting clubs and offset family costs to reap the benefits of improving the social fabric of communities, physical fitness and self discipline of our young people through removing barriers to participation rather than inventing new and bigger obstacles such as another tax on your once cherished ‘working families’. HA!

Yours sincerely,


Brad Clarke





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