Australia delays vote on carbon trading

By Elizabeth Fry in Sydney
Published: June 25 2009 09:45

The Australian government failed to get its carbon trading scheme through the Senate on Thursday after the opposition Coalition and crossbench senators criticised the scheme’s economic and environmental analysis as being inadequate.
The upper house delayed a vote until August 13 when parliament returns from a six-week winter break, although senators warned that they would block the bill unless aspects of the scheme were overhauled.

The legislation is designed to introduce a government cap and trade scheme by July 2011 which guarantees a 5 per cent reduction in emissions. The scheme taxes the top 1,000 emitters but the government will also provide partial compensation to emitters for some activities.
According to Nick Xenophon, an independent senator from South Australia, the government scheme lacked any robust analysis or comparison with alternative emissions trading schemes (ETS).
“The government has been acting like a used car salesman who will only let you test drive one model, and then insists on you buying it,” Senator Xenophon said.
The Coalition and Senator Xenophon argued on Thursday that the government proposal relied on the heavy taxing of emissions which would have a big, adverse impact on the economy without improving the environmental.
They planned to canvass alternative schemes and had committed to completing their analysis before Parliament resumes on August 13th.
Senator Xenophon promised the government – which is seven votes short of a majority in the upper house and did not have the numbers to pass the ETS legislation — that the legislation would be dealt with that week. “That’s something the government has signed on to,” he said. “It’s not their preferred course but it means we’ll have some certainty as to where we’re going with this legislation.”
Thursday’s decision followed four days of fierce debate in the upper house during which Penny Wong, the Climate Change Minister, accused the opposition of ”playing political games.”
“The government has been consistent in its determination to have this bill discussed and debated this week,” Ms Wong told parliament.
”We have been frustrated at every opportunity by the procedural tactics, delaying tactics and irresponsibility of the opposition.”
Despite the fact that the legislation will ultimately be defeated in August unless some compromise is reached, it is unlikely that Minister Wong will change the government’s proposal. She said that the scheme was the result of the most comprehensive ETS modelling Australia had ever done.
Because the legislation did not go through a vote on Thursday, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd would not have a trigger for an early election until December.
In order to get a double dissolution trigger, the government must fail to pass the same bill twice, with a gap of three months between the two votes.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009