Post by marchesarosa on Dec 5, 2009 12:43:57 GMT
FT report
![]()
Australian Senate rejects trading scheme[/img]
By Peter Smith in Sydney
December 3 2009
Australia's Senate voted down a planned emissions trading scheme yesterday, dashing last-ditch efforts by Kevin Rudd, prime min-ster, to have it enshrined in law before the Copenhagen conference.
The government will reintroduce the legislation to parliament for a third time in February but the defeat thwarts Mr Rudd's hopes of taking the lead in global efforts on climate change.
The vote followed a political turnround on Tuesday when a new plain-spoken leader took over the main opposition party, pledging not to back the legislation. Tony Abbott said this year that the argument for climate change was "absolute crap" and that he was unconvinced by the science. But on Tuesday he played down the remarks as "a bit of hyperbole".
Julia Gillard, acting prime minister, said the government would reintroduce the ETS to give the opposition Liberal party a chance to "work through and deal with this legislation in the national interest".
The decision keeps pressure on the opposition, which on Tuesday replaced Malcolm Turnbull as leader with Mr Abbott. Mr Abbott has yet to set out his party's policy on climate change. His first act on becoming leader was to abandon the Liberals' backing of the ETS by saying he would join the National party - junior coalition partners - in voting down the legislation.
Labor lacks a majority in the upper house and needs the support of seven non-government senators to have its bills passed. The tortuous progress of the ETS bill, first rejected by the Senate in August, underlines the difficulties governments face in passing climate change laws.
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c73f6398-dfab-11de-98ca-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1
By Peter Smith in Sydney
December 3 2009
Australia's Senate voted down a planned emissions trading scheme yesterday, dashing last-ditch efforts by Kevin Rudd, prime min-ster, to have it enshrined in law before the Copenhagen conference.
The government will reintroduce the legislation to parliament for a third time in February but the defeat thwarts Mr Rudd's hopes of taking the lead in global efforts on climate change.
The vote followed a political turnround on Tuesday when a new plain-spoken leader took over the main opposition party, pledging not to back the legislation. Tony Abbott said this year that the argument for climate change was "absolute crap" and that he was unconvinced by the science. But on Tuesday he played down the remarks as "a bit of hyperbole".
Julia Gillard, acting prime minister, said the government would reintroduce the ETS to give the opposition Liberal party a chance to "work through and deal with this legislation in the national interest".
The decision keeps pressure on the opposition, which on Tuesday replaced Malcolm Turnbull as leader with Mr Abbott. Mr Abbott has yet to set out his party's policy on climate change. His first act on becoming leader was to abandon the Liberals' backing of the ETS by saying he would join the National party - junior coalition partners - in voting down the legislation.
Labor lacks a majority in the upper house and needs the support of seven non-government senators to have its bills passed. The tortuous progress of the ETS bill, first rejected by the Senate in August, underlines the difficulties governments face in passing climate change laws.
www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c73f6398-dfab-11de-98ca-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1