Ross Garnaut climate report publishing deal is red hot
Kerr | January 09, 2009 Article from: The Australian TAXPAYERS have been forced to pay almost $65,000 to allow the Department of Climate Change to buy copies of the Garnaut report, which was completed withmore than $2.3 million of public money.
The report-buying spree was sparked by the Government's decision to grant a worldwide licence, free of charge, to a major British publisher to reproduce the final report by Kevin Rudd's hand-picked climate change expert, Ross Garnaut.
Despite copies of the report being on sale in bookshops, taxpayers will receive nothing on the sales under the agreement with Cambridge University Press, which won the contract to publish the Garnaut report.
The Department of Climate Change has admitted in answers to parliamentary questions on notice it paid $63,800 for 2000 copies of the report to be distributed to "interested parties".
The confession provoked a furious response from the Opposition.
"It is outrageous that the Government has given away for nothing an expensive, taxpayer-funded report to a private company, which in turn is selling it with no return for taxpayers," Liberal Senator Mitch Fifield said.
"Australian taxpayers forked out their hard-earned money for the Garnaut report to be produced and yet they will not receive a single cent from its sale.
"If the report is to be sold, there should be a return for taxpayers."
It is unusual for a major international publishing house to become involved in the printing of a government report and then sell it on a commercial basis.
In 2007 as Opposition leader, Mr Rudd announced economist Ross Garnaut would examine the impact of climate change on the Australian economy. At the time, he said the review would be conducted "in collaboration with the states and territories, which will provide the resources for it".
But his Government tipped $2.3million into the review in its first budget. While the Government could not confirm the final cost of the review yesterday, sources speculate it could run as high as $5million.
Opposition climate change spokesman Greg Hunt said the process surrounding the Garnaut report was at odds with the normal cost recovery practice.
"It seems odd that the Rudd Government should pay for the development of intellectual content and instead of trying to recover the costs of what was a very generous contract, forgo any revenue from it."
The Cambridge edition of the Garnaut report was launched in October. A spokesperson for the publishers told The Australian more than 5000 copies of the 688-page, $80 tome have been sold.
