The Wire

Fossil fuel burning industries are receiving up to $10 billion dollars a year of tax payers money. The Institute for Sustainable Futures analysis of energy and transport subsidies found that up to 95 per cent of the of the $10 billion in governement funds went to coal, oil and gas companies in 2005 and 2006. The Wire spoke to Mark Wakeham, Energy campaigner for Green Paece Australia, who commissioned the report. He believes the channelling of unds into fossil fuels creates an unfair playing field for renewables, who received just four per cent of the subsidies.