Lenore Taylor political editor
theguardian.com, Monday 21 October 2013
Greg Hunt says he has 'other options' if emissions reduction bill does not pass parliament
Greg Hunt says he is 'exceptionally confident' he will be able to enact an emissions reduction fund. Photograph: Alan Porritt/AAP
The environment minister, Greg Hunt, has indicated he could implement parts of his Direct Action climate change plan without legislation as Labor tries to intensify scrutiny of the Coalition’s alternative climate change plan.
The Coalition is trying to pressure the ALP to back the eight carbon tax repeal bills it will introduce when parliament resumes on 12 November, dubbing the new Labor leader, Bill Shorten, “electricity Bill” and demanding that he “make up his mind”.
Labor’s shadow ministry, which met for the first time on Monday, has not finalised a strategy on the carbon price. A few backbenchers have argued the ALP should agree to the repeal rather than stand by the unpopular tax.
A strong majority of the frontbench believes Labor cannot walk away from a credible climate change policy, or an emissions trading scheme, but do not want to be seen as defending the existing high fixed-rate tax.
A key element of Labor’s strategy is to highlight questions and concerns about whether the Coalition policy can meet Australia’s minimum 5% emissions reduction target and the risk that – as Direct Action is being legislated separately – Australia could be left with no climate policy at all.
But Hunt said on Monday if legislation to implement Direct Action did not pass parliament there were “other options to do it” and he was “exceptionally confident” he could enact the emissions reduction fund.
Effectively a grants program, the ERF could be set up without legislation. But climate experts question whether the rest of the Coalition policy – particularly compliance arrangements – could be set up without legislative change.
Speaking on Sky television, the shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, said: “The carbon tax needs to be terminated and a new set of arrangements put in place ... the key issue is what flows after that.
“We do need to have a discussion about so-called Direct Action and what it can achieve … if [the Coalition] thinks they can just railroad it through, bully it through ... then they are sadly mistaken.”
As Guardian Australia reported last month, the minority party crossbench senators who would determine the fate of Direct Action legislation are sceptical about the need for any policy to combat climate change, meaning that without the support of the ALP or the Greens the Coalition would not be able to legislate its scheme.
The Coalition is seeking submissions on terms of reference for a series of discussion papers, with the aim of finalising details of its policy by next year.
