Carbon tax is the topic of the Australian debate because it appears to be taking shape as nothing more than a massive political bribe.

The US and German game involves academic reports which claim (a) that some natural gas is a bigger polluter than coal, (b) that coal is worse than nuclear, and (c) that nuclear is worse than coal.

If your head hurts after considering that list then Hogsback understands because his did when trying to understand what reads like one of those awful exam questions which require you to sort out who’s related to who if (a) Uncle Bill is the second cousin to Aunt Sally, but (b) third cousin to your grandfather.

More on the bizarre US/German situation later because it really is becoming a three-ring circus in which everyone gets to argue their case while forgetting what they’re arguing about – which is how to keep the lights on.

In Australia, the carbon tax debate has become a much simpler matter; it’s about an attempt by a government which needs Greens party support to survive today, but needs working-class votes to win the next election.

That’s why the country might get a carbon tax which hits industry, especially power generators, coal miners and gas producers, but then returns the lion’s share of the loot to voters in the form of “excess compensation”

In other words, the government plans to extract up to $3 billion from industry in the form of a new tax and return more than half of that money to individual taxpayers, who also happen to be the people it wants to vote for them at the next election.

As far as short-term political ploys go, it’s not bad and might just work because most taxpayers don’t care how the country is run, just so long as the cost of a litre of petrol doesn’t rise and the home electricity bill is kept down.

In the longer term the plan to return half the proposed carbon tax to voters will have a devastating effect on industry – the place where the voters currently work.

Manufacturers in the outlying suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne will find their power bills rising under a carbon tax regime as they struggle to survive the assault of foreign imports being sucked into Australia by the high exchange rate.

Compensation might be on the way, but jobs and entire manufacturing industries will be heading overseas all in the name of a political ideology.

Enough of Australia’s carbon tax mess, time to look overseas to see whether any common sense can be found there.

No, is the quick answer, as can be seen in these reports:

• A Cornell University report attacking the coal seam methane industry as potentially being more damaging to the environment than coal thanks to methane leaks during the rock fracturing process.

  The oil and gas industry, naturally, got a bit upset. The coal industry welcomed the report.

• A Wall Street Journal story a day later which considered the problem confronting Germany’s Green party, which has to decide the fate of nuclear power plants in parts of that country and seems likely to opt for more coal-fired power.
• Discussion in the US over whether to continue expanding nuclear capacity in the wake of the Japanese reactor meltdown, or opt for more gas and coal.

You were warned at the start of this week’s column that you might go away with a headache, and that’s precisely what you should have because it seems that logic is flying further out the window as the global energy debate heats up.

What’s really needed is recognition from all camps that keeping the lights on and the factories operating is not just the number one priority, it’s the only priority.

Playing politics with energy supply, which is the real name of today’s game, is not just foolish but will prove to be very damaging.

The correct solution is for government to recognise that there is a role for each energy source, including coal, nuclear and gas, and to resist the temptation to pick winners to satisfy political objectives.