Australia’s conservative Liberal-National government has been handed its first double dissolution election trigger with the voting down of moves to abolish the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).
The opposition Labor Party and the Australian Greens Party handed the government the election trigger, but it is unlikely to take up the opportunity any time soon.
AAP Newsagency reports that has not stopped the Australian Greens from challenging the Prime Minister Tony Abbott to take his plans to scrap the carbon price laws to another election.
The upper house Senate today rejected for a second time a government bill abolishing the CEFC, which was set up by the previous Labor government to invest $10 billion in clean energy projects.
A number of other carbon price repeal bills could face the same fate.
Under the constitution, the government can use the rejection of a bill twice to trigger the dissolution of both houses of parliament and call an election.
The bill, and others rejected twice by the Senate, would then be put to a joint sitting of the new parliament.
AAP reports it is not an option the government is actively pursuing, as the Liberal-National coalition has seen its standing in voter polls drop substantially since its election last year..
Instead it wants its package of carbon price repeal bills put to a new Senate in July when an enlarged cross bench of independent and Palmer United Party senators will change the balance of power currently held by Labor and the Australian Greens.
Australian Greens leader Senator Christine Milne used parliament today to deliver a direct message to Mr Abbott.
“We’ve got a Prime Minister who is effectively barking mad on climate change, barking mad on the greatest threat that is facing this country,” she said.
“If you are so convinced that ignoring climate change is the way to go, go to an election on it,” she added.
The Australian Greens and Labor used their numbers to force a vote on the CEFC repeal bill, prompting Finance Minister Mathias Cormann to accuse them of defying voters.
“The judgment of the Australian people is very clear,” he said.
Labor argues polluters will be given a free pass if the government’s carbon price repeal bills clear parliament.
“You are simply treating this sector as a joke,” Labor senator Louise Pratt said.
The CEFC finances clean energy projects and was established to transition Australia “to a carbon-constrained economy”.
While the Senate was voting on the repeal bill, the government introduced its own climate action legislation, its Direct Action plan that uses taxpayer funds to pay companies to stop polluting, to the lower house.
