Not yet registered?Sign upLogin

Emissions Trading Scheme killed by elevation of new Liberal leader Tony Abbott

News Clippings Steve Lewis, Herald Sun, December 02 2009

TONY Abbott’s elevation as Liberal leader kills off any chance of Kevin Rudd’s Emissions Trading Scheme getting through the Senate.

With the Liberal’s hard-Right faction taking over, the Rudd Government will fall short of the seven Senate votes it needs for the ETS to pass.

And the Opposition is poised to launch the mother of all scare campaigns on a scheme that Mr Abbott describes as a “great big tax” on electricity, petrol and energy.

“This is a $120 billion tax on the Australian public and that is just for starters,” he said in his first public comments.

“Basically, this is a tax on the way we live because the way we live depends on energy, electricity, petrol - this is the ultimate lifestyle tax.”

After a marathon debate, there are not enough numbers to back the Government’s legislation. But neither is there sufficient backing for a Senate inquiry, which is the Coalition’s preferred option.

Family First Senator Steve Fielding wants a royal commission and is refusing to back a Senate inquiry.

The Senate is expected to formally vote against the ETS in the next few days. While up to 10 Liberal senators privately support the compromise ETS deal, most are not willing to break party ranks.

Some Liberal senators, including Judith Troeth, Gary Humphries and Sue Boyce, want the ETS passed and were weighing up whether to cross the floor.

Mr Abbott would take a dim view of any Coalition senators who broke ranks.

Greg Combet, the Government’s ETS spokesman, lashed out at the Liberals for lurching to the Right.

“The extremists, climate change deniers and conspiracy theorists have clearly gained control of the Liberal Party,” he said.

The five Greens senators oppose Mr Rudd’s plan, claiming it will not help the environment and delivers far too much in compensation to Australia’s heaviest polluters.