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Turnbull has lost credibility: Fielding

News Clippings AAP, November 25 2009

Family First senator Steve Fielding says Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull has lost all credibility after agreeing to the government’s revamped climate change deal.

Mr Turnbull is hanging on to the Liberal leadership by a thread, amid speculation of a spill later in the week.

The leader unilaterally declared victory for the revised carbon emissions scheme, without the full support of the party room.

Senator Fielding said he would pay the price for not listening to his party.

“I call on all coalition senators to vote against the CPRS and send Malcolm Turnbull a message that he didn’t listen to in party room,” he said in a statement on Tuesday night.

“The coalition and Malcolm Turnbull have lost all economic credibility and they’ll be punished for it.

“Malcolm Turnbull has even acknowledged that there’ll be no global agreement at Copenhagen, so I don’t see the point in the coalition agreeing to an ETS now.”

Meanwhile, the business council has backed the agreement, saying businesses can now plan future investments for a low emissions economy.

“Both the opposition and government should be commended for working together constructively to reach this agreement on an issue as complex and far-reaching as Australia’s response to climate change,” the Business Council of Australia (BCA) said in a statement on Tuesday.

“When passed, the legislation will enable Australian businesses to plan for and make the required decisions about investments to transition Australia to a low-emissions economy.”

But Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Mitchell Hooke said the deal meant it was imperative for next month’s United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen to deliver a binding agreement.

“If the Copenhagen meeting fails to deliver, Australian exporters will be saddled with the highest carbon costs in the world while their competitors in both developed and developing nations face no such costs,” Mr Hooke said in a statement.

“Without an agreement at Copenhagen global greenhouse gas levels will increase despite Australia’s CPRS.”

Mr Hooke said the deal amounted to a $114 billion gamble on the outcome of Copenhagen committing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.