Carbon tax debate resumes in Senate

The Abbott government wants its legislation to scrap the carbon tax put to a vote in the Senate by the end of the week.

Smoke plumes from The Port Kembla industrial area.

(AAP)

The fight to abolish the carbon tax has resumed in parliament, with the federal government pushing for a vote in the Senate as soon as possible.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott wants the upper house to vote on the government's carbon tax repeal legislation this week or he has threatened to keep parliament running until Christmas.

Related: Joyce announces agriculture white paper

The package of 11 bills already has cleared the lower house, but it's unlikely Labor and the Australian Greens will let it pass the Senate.

Labor insists the carbon tax must be replaced by an emissions trading scheme before it will back the legislation.

Liberal senator Ian Macdonald has railed against the carbon tax and the stated threats of climate change, comparing it with the dire Y2K warnings before 2000.

"I'm sure in years to come people will look back on history and say, yep, remember global warming ... we're still going," he told the chamber on Monday.

Debate on the repeal bills is continuing in the Senate.


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Source: AAP


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