Lenore Taylor political editor

theguardian.com, Wednesday 13 November 2013

Senate vote to be delayed when Labor seeks answers about cost and effectiveness of Coalition’s Direct Action climate plan

Tony Abbott talks to Julie Bishop during the opening of parliament on Tuesday. Photograph: Daniel Munoz/AAP

Labor will demand a four-month inquiry into the cost and effectiveness of the Coalition’s Direct Action climate plan, delaying until next March a Senate vote on the new government’s top-priority carbon tax repeal bills.

The Senate inquiry – to run throughout the long summer break – would play into the political arm wrestle between the major parties in which the prime minister, Tony Abbott, is pressing Labor to back the repeal by maintaining public attention on the hip pocket costs of the carbon tax, while Labor and the Greens seek to raise concerns about the viability of the Coalition’s alternative climate policy.

The inquiry is likely to win support from the Greens, and if Labor sticks with its current stand, means the final decision on the carbon repeal is likely to be made by the new Senate which sits from July, where the businessman Clive Palmer – who said Tuesday the government could sue him if it wanted payment of a $6.17mn carbon tax bill owed by his company Queensland Nickel – is likely to control crucial balance of power votes.

Abbott will personally introduce the eight repeal bills on Wednesday morning, and has used almost every public appearance since the 7 September election to demand Labor accept the government’s mandate and pass them. Labor insists it will not.

“The people got to vote on the carbon tax at the election and in the days to come this parliament will get to vote on the carbon tax and I trust that ‘Electricity’ Bill Shorten will have a light bulb moment and will appreciate that the people's verdict must be respected if the pressure on families is to reduce and if the pressure on jobs is to reduce,” Abbott said on Tuesday.

But, tapping into a campaign by environment groups like the Australian Conservation Foundation, WWF-Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Climate Institute and the Investors Group on Climate Change that the government reveal (its alternative plan) before repeal, the leader of the opposition in the Senate, Penny Wong, will move that the Senate environment and communications committee report by March 2014 on the impact of the repeal on Australia’s ability to meet its emissions reduction targets and address climate change, the fiscal and economic impact of Direct Action, the capacity to reach Australia’s 5% minimum emissions reduction target by 2020 using Direct Action and whether Australia could still meet the higher targets it had previously committed to, under certain conditions.

The capability to meet higher targets is now a moot point, as Abbott said on Tuesday Australia would not be moving beyond the minimum 5%. The Greens have also called for an inquiry into Direct Action, to report next March, but say they would be happy to vote against the repeal bills before then.

Labor’s strategy comes as four business groups demand Labor allow the repeal of the tax – saying delaying its demise until the new Senate sits next July would achieve nothing for the environment, but impose big costs on business.

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group), the Business Council of Australia (BCA) and the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) say delaying the repeal would be “deeply unhelpful” for business.

“Delaying its removal until the new Senate sits – as would be the effect of the opposition’s current stance – would achieve nothing for the environment, because it is future price expectations – not just the price today – that influence business investment,” the groups said in a joint statement.

Labor’s strategy would mean the independent Climate Change Authority – an expert advisory group the Coalition intends to abolish along with the tax – could produce a final report.

Its draft report recently found that the conditions for a target higher than 5% had already been met, and when compared with the actions of other countries, 5% no longer represented a "credible option".

The government has asked for public submissions on proposed terms of reference for an inquiry into its proposed $3.2bn emissions reduction fund – which would run a competitive grants program for businesses and other organisations that wanted to reduce greenhouse emissions. It intends to finalise the details by the middle of next year. Independent modelling has suggested the money in the fund is insufficient to buy the emission reductions required to meet the 5% target, but the government in confident it has allocated enough and has said no more funding is available.

 

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