(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
The federal Government has finally succeeded in repealing the carbon tax.
It was a case of third time lucky for the Coalition, which had twice been knocked back by the Upper House.
The repeal marks a key win for the Coalition after it went to the polls last year vowing to do away with Labor's carbon pricing scheme.
Darren Mara reports.
(Click on the audio tab above to hear the full report)
The scrapping of the carbon tax ends the government's bitter struggle to fulfill its promise to electors.
The Senate voted 39 to 32 to repeal the legislation and a raft of other clean energy bills introduced by Labor in 2012.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott insists scrapping the carbon tax isn't a loss for the environment, but rather a win for households around the country.
"We are a government which absolutely appreciates that we have only got one planet and we should pass it on to our children and grandchildren in at least as good shape as we found it. So we are a conservationist government and we will do what we think is the sensible thing to try to bring emissions down. And what's gone today is not a policy to reduce emissions: what's gone today is the world's biggest carbon tax."
The carbon tax had been imposed by the former Labor government on major polluters from 2012 in a bid to reduce carbon emissions.
It was the first stage in a plan to implement a carbon trading scheme, initially planned to come into effect next year.
Under the carbon tax, the country's biggest polluters paid for the emissions they produced, aimed at giving them an incentive to reduce them.
But the Coalition argued all it achieved was raising the cost of living.
It pushed its own "direct action" plan instead, which includes financial incentives for polluters to increase their energy efficiency.
Federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten says history will judge Tony Abbott harshly for scrapping the tax.
"He will try and do and say anything to avoid the science of climate change. He still believes, as he famously said, 'It is absolute crap.' Australians now know who Tony Abbott is. He's lied when he says he's fair dinkum about climate change, just as he's lied about his unfair budget and his pre-election promises. He was the person who said that under a carbon price a leg of lamb would cost a hundred dollars. He's lied about climate change ever since he ambushed Malcolm Turnbull in 2009 and today he has taken Australia backwards."
As the result of the Senate vote was announced, Coalition senators applauded - the victory coming after days of protracted talks with the minor Palmer United Party.
The PUP had embarrassed the government last week by pulling its crucial support for repeal of the tax at the last minute.
Mining magnate Clive Palmer's party wanted amendments to ensure price cuts from the carbon tax repeal are passed on fully to consumers and businesses.
The three PUP senators who eventually delivered the crucial votes embraced on the chamber floor.
Among them was PUP senator for Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie , who defended the amendments her party pushed for.
"We can only tell those big gas and energy companies that they must pass on those savings, otherwise we're going to give them a bit of a smack over the hand. We're looking at 250 per cent we'll put on for a repayment, so I don't see them mucking around in this area ... so, you beauty!"
Industry groups are welcoming the abolition of the carbon tax, but green groups say senators who backed the repeal will have to explain their decision to their children.
Greenpeace is calling the repeal "blindly irrational" and the Climate Institute says it's a "reckless backward leap".
Australian Greens leader Christine Milne says the Greens will lead a campaign to restore what she said was genuine action on global warming.
"This is an appalling day for Australia when a government, rather than lead in the face of what the world is facing up to, and rather than lead and be ahead in the race to the future, is determined to stick with the past."
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