Not yet registered?Sign upLogin

Filibuster up its sleeve

News Clippings Phillip Coorey, Sydney Morning Herald, October 07 2009

» Download clipping

MALCOLM TURNBULL is trying to broker a consensus on climate change before Parliament resumes and will lead extraordinary meetings of the shadow ministry and the party room this month.

As Coalition MPs were alerted yesterday to change their travel plans before the October 19 resumption of Parliament, the Liberal Party leadership was reserving its right to filibuster the Government’s legislation for an emissions trading scheme in November and delay a vote until after Christmas.

Any such tactic would need the support of one of the Senate independents – and yesterday both Nick Xenophon and the Family First senator Steve Fielding supported the idea.

Senator Fielding told the Herald he would endorse a delay to ensure there was no final vote until next year, after the Copenhagen conference in December where other nations would state their intentions. “I want the vote on the ETS after Copenhagen and I will do whatever I can to make sure that it was after Copenhagen,” he said.

Senator Xenophon said he, too, would not be rushed. He said the ETS was a bigger issue than the Wik legislation, which occupied the Senate for weeks.

The Opposition’s leader in the Senate, Nick Minchin, told the Herald that the Coalition would not seek to delay the vote by deliberately dragging out the committee stage of the 11 separate bills, but he gave no guarantees. “If we move substantial amendments, then there
will be a substantial committee stage on the bills,” he said.

“They’re putting the bill up against our very strong objections in the final two weeks of the year. We must deal with it carefully and in a considered fashion.

“Whether we get to a vote on it remains to be seen.”

The Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, said any such action would contravene Mr Turnbull’s offer to negotiate amendments in good faith. She said today’s meeting of shadow cabinet must rule out the tactic.

“He and his shadow cabinet must declare that they will not allow the sceptics in the Liberal and National parties to block a Senate vote on climate change with procedural tricks,” Senator Wong said.

Mr Turnbull has staked his leadership on receiving party room support for his push to negotiate changes to the Government’s scheme during the November sittings.

The Government has given him until the October session to put forward amendments for consideration.

The shadow ministry and party room meetings on Sunday, October 18, are a sign that Mr Turnbull wants his warring charges to lock in a position before Parliament resumes and so minimise the potential for unrest.

One of the amendments will involve a push for greater compensation or exemptions for electricity generators.

A rough outline of amendments was to be discussed at a meeting of the shadow cabinet expected to take place today in the Victorian seat of La Trobe – a symbolic gesture to the region’s brown coal-fired electricity generators.

Mr Turnbull has stressed that even if the Opposition negotiates with the Government, it does not mean the Coalition will ultimately support the scheme. That would depend on Labor’s final position, he has said.

There is significant hostility among the Nationals and some Liberals over passing the bill, regardless of how many amendments the Labor Government accepts.