carbon tax: wealth dedistribution by stealth?, page-16

"Take with one hand (carbon tax), give with the other (compensation). The result? No price pressure or incentive for people to change their energy use.

Make no mistake, when the carbon tax is applied to businesses, they will pass on that cost to consumers to maintain their profitability. Consumers will tolerate that price rise if they are rich, and go on burning energy but simply pay more. Mainstream voters and the disadvantaged will secure generous compensation from the government (don't believe Tony Abbott when he says otherwise), which will allow them to keep consuming dirty energy without changing their ways."

This paragraph assumes that all the companies paying the carbon tax can pass on the extra cost. Alot of these companies are exporters who recieve the going world price for their products , they can't pass on the cost. So they must absorb the tax and find ways to reduce it by becoming more energy efficent or start to use clean sources of energy. In their case it will have the desire outcome of reduced emissions rather quickly.

Now domestic companies that have alot of local competitors will need to lift their game as well to maintain market share so in the long run they two will become more energy efficent or move to cleaner energy sources , so again the desired outcome of reduced emissions is achieved.

The big power monoplies are more difficult to bring into line but saying that as their old inefficent power stations near the end of their lives there will be little financial incentive to keep them running longer as it will make more sense to build newer cleaner plants rather than stick with the older units , so it will take longer but in the end the desired outcome of reduced emissions will be achieved.

As for the average person some will realise that power costs have gone up but they get more money in their pockets to help pay for this but if they reduce their personal cosumption their net income would be larger than before the tax was introduced. Some will do so again achieving the desire outcome of reduce emissions. As others see the benfits of this they will follow suit. Of course some people will not change but overall society will.

So I think the desired outcome of lower emissions will be achieved in the end by this policy.

Now whether Cate Blanchett starred in the ads or not is totally irrelevant but typical of the Australian trying to remove focus from the actual issue.