Australia’s upper house Senate has voted down legislation to repeal the carbon price laws, a core election promise of the conservative Liberal-National Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
After months of debate the Labor opposition and the Australian Greens Party combined to vote against the repeal laws 33 votes to 29 today.
Labor, which introduced the carbon pricing scheme will in government in 2012, said the coalition government’s alternative policy to tackle climate change, called Direct Action, would be ineffective and too expensive.
“Without a credible alternative, Labor cannot support the abolition of the existing clean energy policies,” opposition climate change spokesman Mark Butler said.
Australian Greens leader Senator Christine Milne issued a statement saying the current law, maintaining a price on carbon, must stand.
Under the current laws the fixed price Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) reverts to a market based ETS in July 2015 and is linked to the European Union ETS.
“The Senate has rejected Tony Abbott’s do-nothing approach on global warming and voted to maintain the price on pollution,” Senator Milne said.
The Labor government of then Prime Minister Julia Gillard brought in the carbon price scheme, after extensive negotiations with the Australian Greens.
It currently charges polluters about $25 a tonne of carbon emissions.
“Axing the tax” was Mr Abbott’s catch-cry during last year’s election campaign, and the government says the Senate’s move will cost jobs and hurt the economy.
ABC News reports Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the government will again try to have them passed.
“We would like the Parliament to respect the will of the people,” he said a short time after the vote.
“And my hope and my belief is that if this Parliament will not do it, the new Senate in the first two weeks after July has given all the indications that they will respect the mandate given by the Australian people.”
Earlier today, the government had already reintroduced carbon price-related legislation that could set the stage for a double dissolution election on the issue.
The coalition has also been seeking to shut down the multi-billion-dollar Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) but the Senate rejected the legislation in December.
The laws were brought back before Parliament this morning, and rejection by the Senate gives the government a second trigger to call an election of both houses of Parliament.
The government has already had its legislation to do away with the Clean Energy Regulator twice rejected by the Senate, which also gives its grounds for a double dissolution.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt has criticised the Senate for staging a “go slow” on axing the price on carbon.
He says the Government will “push ahead” with a vote soon, including on the future of the CEFC.
The corporation was set up by Labor to invest up to $10 billion in renewable energy projects and to help attract private sector investment.
Under the constitution, there needs to be a three-month gap between Senate votes on the same bill to give the government reason to call a double dissolution vote, which would involve the election of all 12 Senate positions from each state instead of the usual six.
But the Government may not force a vote before the Senate changeover on July 1, when the Australian Greens lose the balance of power and mining magnate and federal MP Clive Palmer’s Palmer United Party (PUP) steps in to crucial Upper House seats.
The PUP has not yet made clear what its position is on repealing the carbon legislation, though Mr Palmer has criticised the impost.
He is also holding out on what the PUP senators, in coalition with Motoring Enthusiasts Party senator Ricky Muir, may do in relation to the government’s plan to repeal the mining tax.
Mr Palmer, whose businesses hold significant mining interests, has not paid the tax and has called for a tax amnesty.
However, he told ABC Radio National that he would not support the key government measure if the coalition went ahead with scrapping a welfare bonus attached to the tax.
Labor brought in the mining tax with boosts to welfare payments including a $200 annual bonus to the children of Defence personnel who are killed in service.
Mr Palmer said the Government was attacking “defenceless children”.
“We don’t support the repeal of the mining tax taking $250,000 from 1200 orphans of serving veterans, and we think if a person’s given their life for Australia they should be sure that the Australian government won’t attack their children after they’re gone,” Mr Palmer said.
The government said the tax needed to be scrapped along with any associated benefits.