- Carbon tax repeal gets mixed response from states
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The package of bills was passed 39-32 after debate was delayed yesterday.
Palmer United Party senators sided with the government to pass the repeal legislation, alongside Ricky Muir and all other crossbenchers.
Labor and the Greens opposed the package of bills.
Senator Nick Xenophon was absent from the vote.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has welcomed the repeal, saying the “useless, destructive” tax was gone.
Mr Abbott also criticised Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for his commitment to bring an emissions trading system to the next election.
“Surely, it's time to accept the Australian people don't want a carbon tax,” Mr Abbott said.
Mr Abbott said he expected that price reductions, estimated by the Coalition at an average $550 per household, would be passed through, adding the ACCC had been given additional powers to police it.
Mr Abbott has now delivered on one of the Coalition’s core election promises, but noted that his government would take action on the environment.
“We are a conservationist government which absolutely appreciates that we only have one planet,” he said.
Parliament reacts
Addressing media after the vote, Mr Shorten said the Prime Minister was taking the country backwards.
“Tony Abbott is sleepwalking Australia to an environmental disaster,” he said.
“…History will judge Tony Abbott harshly for refusing to believe that action is needed on climate change.”
The Opposition Leader declared that Labor would be taking an emissions trading scheme to the next election.
“What we want is for this parliament to be a source of inspiration,” he said.
“... An ETS is the way forward. No serious person disputes that.”
Mr Shorten also described Direct Action as a "Clayton's climate policy designed for the audience of Internet trolls and shock jock radio announcers and climate sceptics".
Labor Senate leader Penny Wong, who was Climate Change Minister the first time an emissions trading scheme was proposed to parliament, also weighed in via Twitter.
"Abbott to go down as one of most short sighted, opportunistic, selfish & small ppl ever to hold the office of PM," she posted.
Greens leader Christine Milne said the carbon tax repeal would be a “short-lived moment” for the Abbott government, vowing that the Greens would not support the government's plan for Direct Action.
“Have we got the courage and the leadership to do what is necessary to save life around the world? The Greens have, but I have to say the Parliament has failed on that,” she said.
“We are not going to allow Tony Abbott to pretend he has a serious policy when he hasn't.”
Palmer United Party Senator Jacqui Lambie applauded the abolition of the tax, saying the next move was the establishment of an ETS.
“We have got [the Coalition] in the corner there and we have to do the right thing for the environment,” she said.
“We must have an ETS.”
Mixed response from industry and interest groups
The repeal has prompted a mixed response from industry and interest groups.
It was welcomed by Australian Retailers Association boss Russell Zimmerman, who stated the abolition would boost retailers’ bottom lines and the pockets of consumers, as well as “assist the sector to overcome pressures from excessive costs and be a boost to current low consumer confidence”.
National Farmers Federation president Brent Finlay also applauded the repeal, stating that “Australian agriculture is breathing a sigh of relief now the tax has finally been abolished”.
There has been a scathing response from interest groups, led by the Climate Institute.
The institute's chief executive, John Connor, described the repeal as “an historic act of irresponsibility and recklessness”, while Australian Conservation Foundation chief Kelly O'Shanassy stated that the government “has listened to the rent-seeking of big polluters rather than the advice of scientists, economists, doctors and firefighters”.
Australian Public Health Association chief Michael Moore said that the impact of climate change on our health will be serious and costly, while Australian Council of Social Services chief Cassandra Goldie stated that “we know that people experiencing poverty will be hit first and hardest by the impacts of climate change and have the least capacity to adapt”.
Previous attempts
The vote follows last week’s failed push to repeal the carbon tax in the Senate, where Palmer United Party senators sided with Labor and the Greens, as well as senator Ricky Muir, to vote it down 37-35.
Ahead of the vote, Clive Palmer told reporters that his senators would not vote with the government amid continued debate over the amendments.
Mr Palmer said the government had “pulled a swifty” on his party after they failed to circulate their revised amendment to the repeal legislation.
Reports have since emerged that the Palmer United Party leader reportedly verbally abused a Senate clerk during discussion over the amendment.
