Coalition backs target for cutting carbon emissions, not ETS scheme

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THE Coalition has offered the Government “unconditional bipartisan” support for the carbon emissions target it plans to take to the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change in December.
But at a press conference today, Malcolm Turnbull said the Opposition would move in parliament to defer a final vote on the Government’s proposed emissions trading scheme until after the conference.

It will need two additional votes in the Senate to defer the scheme, with Independent Senator Nick Xenophon telling The Australian Online he does not believe the ETS legislation should be debated in the current session.

The Senate is holding Estimates Committee hearings this week and next and is only scheduled to sit for eight more day before Parliament rises for the winter recess.

“In the light of the fact that the Copenhagen conference is only six months away and the Obama administration and US Congress are well advanced in finalising US legislation for an ETS, the Coalition believes that it would be premature to lock Australia into an emissions trading scheme that is out of step with the rest of the world,” Mr Turnbull said.

The Government is proposing a minimum reduction target of five per cent below 2000 levels by 2020, up to a conditional target of 25 per cent dependent largely on a global agreement.

“We are offering unconditional five per cent,” Mr Turnbull said, adding it was a measure of the Coalition’s sincerity.

However, speaking on the emissions trading scheme in the Labor Caucus meeting today, Kevin Rudd said the Coalition “are the masters of fear, we are the architects of hope”.

Mr Turnbull said the Government had already chosen to delay the effective start date of the emissions scheme until to 2012.

“This is an appropriate acknowledgement of the current economic climate, and offers Australia a winder to get our scheme right and ensure it does not export jobs, investment or emissions,” Mr Turnbull said.

The emerging Obama plan would offer 100 per cent protection for US exports and import-competing industries until 2025, he said.

“The government’s current plan would therefore leave many of Australia’s most successful industries - and largest employers and taxpayers - at a crippling competitive disadvantage,” Mr Turnbull said.

“It is critical for Australia’s treatment of these industries to align with the treatment received by their competitors.”

Mr Turnbull said the Coalition would augment its support for emission reduction targets with a significant renewable energy support package in the near future.

But today’s announcement reflects deep divisions both between the Coalition parties and within the Liberal Party itself.

The Nationals have already indicated that they will vote against the current ETS plans in the Senate. Some Liberals would be likely to join them.

Divisions over emissions trading policy under Brendan Nelson sapped his authority, making his position untenable and paving the way for Malcolm Turnbull’s ascension.

The divisions remain unresolved and threaten Mr Turnbull’s position.

Thirty-six Coalition parliamentarians _ more than a quarter _ spoke in the partyroom discussion on the Coalition’s stance.