Australian climate change groups urge business probe

Petroleum groups Woodside and Caltex, mining companies Rio Tinto and Xstrata, building products company Boral and Bluescope Steel are all named in the complaint by the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Climate Justice Programme. According the ACF executive director Don Henry, "Some of Australia’s biggest corporate polluters appear to be presenting the worst case to government and the public in an effort to gain excessive free permits while presenting the best case to investors in order to keep their share prices up. We are asking the ACCC to investigate whether our politicians, policymakers and the public have been deceived.” Many companies have been publicly critical of the proposed CPRS, saying it would cut jobs, increase prices and make Australian companies less competitive.