Australia’s conservative Liberal-National government has cleared the first hurdle in getting the former Labor government’s carbon price laws scrapped, but is now set for a hostile showdown with opponents in the upper house Senate.
The Liberal-National government used its numbers in the House of Representatives to pass a package of bills to abolish not just the carbon price, but the Climate Change Authority and Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
AAP Newsagency reports while the bills were destined to clear the lower house without much fuss, the real battle to repeal the current fixed carbon price will begin in the Senate in early December.
Labor and the Australian Greens Party have said they will stop the legislation from becoming law, and collectively hold the balance of power until more conservative Senators take their seats in the upper house next July.
The Liberal-National government knows this, and started increasing the pressure on Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten, saying he is denying the will of the Australian voters.
Mr Shorten has demanded that the fixed carbon price be replaced by an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in a program similar to that taken to the recent federal election by Labor.
“If Labor decides to vote against the repeal in the Senate, it will be clear proof that Labor hasn’t changed under Bill Shorten,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott said to supporters in an email.
“I want the repeal of the carbon tax to be passed by Christmas, and to give Australian families and businesses the help they need.”
AAP reports it is unlikely that the bills will pass parliament before it rises for the summer, but the government is not going to walk away from its signature election promise in a hurry.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the coalition had a contract with the Australian people, and this bills were about “honouring one’s words”.
“They determined the result of this election clearly and comprehensively and unequivocally,” he said.
“They voted for a government which proposed the repeal of the carbon tax.”
Opposition climate change spokesman Mark Butler sought turn the spotlight onto the government’s so-called Direct Action carbon abatement policy by moving an amendment in the lower house.
Speaker Bronwyn Bishop ruled against it, sparking an intense war of words that stalled proceedings in the lower house and delayed the vote.
Mr Butler said the environment minister did not want to discuss Direct Action because it was a “stinking dead albatross hanging around his neck”.
“We know the minister doesn’t believe this is going to make any effect to reduce carbon pollution,” he said.
There was no shortage of harsh words exchanged, notably Labor MP Graham Perrett’s wish that the grandchildren of his opponents would track them down in old age and “give them a good head butt”.
Australian Greens MP Adam Bandt said the government had chosen cowardice over courage, saying the country needed a Churchill on climate action but had got a Chamberlain instead.
The government wants a Senate inquiry into the carbon price repeal legislation to report back by December 2, and it could get Australian Greens support, but Labor is pushing for a date in the first quarter of next year.
