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Australia's carbon laws face delay, poll possible
Source: Agencies |
November 30, 2009, Monday
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AUSTRALIA'S plans to fight global warming face a new hurdle today with parliament likely to delay a vote on the government's carbon-trade scheme, raising the prospect of an early election.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wants the scheme to become law ahead of next month's global climate summit in Copenhagen. If opposition MPs succeed in defeating or delaying it, he could have a legal trigger to call a snap election to resolve the issue.
Australian parliament's upper house Senate will resume debate on the laws today, but numbers are building to send the package of 11 carbon-trade bills to a new inquiry, with a final vote likely to be postponed until February.
"This is just another tactic by those people who don't want action on climate change trying to avoid action ...," Climate Change Minister Penny Wong told Australia radio today.
The government needs seven opposition votes in the Senate to pass its laws. Wong said senators had already had plenty of time to examine the laws, which have been in the Senate since March.
The government scheme aims to cut Australian emissions by 5-25 percent by 2020 from 2000 levels, with the size of the cut depending on the global position agreed at Copenhagen.
The debate in Australia is being watched by other countries, including the world's second largest greenhouse gas emitter, the United States.
Rudd, now travelling abroad, has said repeatedly he does not want to call an early election and plans to run his full term, but there is increasing speculation that he will have little choice if the Senate refuses to pass his scheme.
A Nielsen poll in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper today said 66 percent of those polled supported a carbon-trade scheme for Australia, while only 25 percent were opposed.
The poll also found 57 percent would support Rudd if he chose to call a snap election on climate policy. Rudd's government remains well ahead of the opposition, and would win an election with an increased majority if the poll figures were carried through to election day.
The Senate was due to adjourn for the year on Nov. 26, but sat into Friday and is scheduled to sit today and into Tuesday to consider the carbon bills.
The opposition is in open revolt over the scheme, with leader Malcolm Turnbull facing a leadership challenge on Tuesday after he decided his party should support the package. Turnbull's stand prompted mass resignations of six of his frontbenchers.
Many opposition lawmakers say they do not believe human activity is responsible for global warming.
Opposition sceptics are now likely to attempt a filibuster today, dragging debate through the night and into the next day when they hope a new leader will reverse Turnbull's policy and reject the carbon scheme, or support a delay.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wants the scheme to become law ahead of next month's global climate summit in Copenhagen. If opposition MPs succeed in defeating or delaying it, he could have a legal trigger to call a snap election to resolve the issue.
Australian parliament's upper house Senate will resume debate on the laws today, but numbers are building to send the package of 11 carbon-trade bills to a new inquiry, with a final vote likely to be postponed until February.
"This is just another tactic by those people who don't want action on climate change trying to avoid action ...," Climate Change Minister Penny Wong told Australia radio today.
The government needs seven opposition votes in the Senate to pass its laws. Wong said senators had already had plenty of time to examine the laws, which have been in the Senate since March.
The government scheme aims to cut Australian emissions by 5-25 percent by 2020 from 2000 levels, with the size of the cut depending on the global position agreed at Copenhagen.
The debate in Australia is being watched by other countries, including the world's second largest greenhouse gas emitter, the United States.
Rudd, now travelling abroad, has said repeatedly he does not want to call an early election and plans to run his full term, but there is increasing speculation that he will have little choice if the Senate refuses to pass his scheme.
A Nielsen poll in the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper today said 66 percent of those polled supported a carbon-trade scheme for Australia, while only 25 percent were opposed.
The poll also found 57 percent would support Rudd if he chose to call a snap election on climate policy. Rudd's government remains well ahead of the opposition, and would win an election with an increased majority if the poll figures were carried through to election day.
The Senate was due to adjourn for the year on Nov. 26, but sat into Friday and is scheduled to sit today and into Tuesday to consider the carbon bills.
The opposition is in open revolt over the scheme, with leader Malcolm Turnbull facing a leadership challenge on Tuesday after he decided his party should support the package. Turnbull's stand prompted mass resignations of six of his frontbenchers.
Many opposition lawmakers say they do not believe human activity is responsible for global warming.
Opposition sceptics are now likely to attempt a filibuster today, dragging debate through the night and into the next day when they hope a new leader will reverse Turnbull's policy and reject the carbon scheme, or support a delay.
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