(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
Labor's bid to delay the vote on repealing the carbon tax until next year has foundered after it failed to get Greens support.
It was a tactic that would have denied the government a double-dissolution election trigger.
The Senate might now vote on the Coalition's carbon tax repeal bill before Christmas after the Greens sided with the Coalition to allow a very short inquiry into the carbon tax repeal legislation .
The Greens voted down a Labor motion to set up a lengthy Senate inquiry into the legislation.
Amanda Cavill reports.
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Tony Abbott has introduced the carbon tax repeal bills to the lower house, claiming he has an emphatic mandate to abolish a tax that is a $9-billion hit to the economy.
The government now wants to push the repeal bills through the Senate as quickly as possible and, while the Greens want an inquiry into the Coalition's direct action plan, they say such an inquiry doesn't preclude voting on the bill before Christmas.
Labor wanted a broader inquiry that would also include the carbon tax repeal bills, giving it the mechanism to delay the vote, but the Greens blocked the move.
There will now be a short inquiry into the carbon tax repeal bills, to be finished by December the 2nd.
Greens leader Christine Milne says there needs to be a vote as soon as possible.
"The reason the Greens will not be supporting an inquiry into the current legislation is that we do not want to avoid a vote on this. It is time to take it straight up to the Coalition government. It is time to say this legislation is working. We are not going to cast doubt. There will be no equivocation on this. If the Coalition says it wants to tear down the only thing that is working to bring down greenhouse gas emissions, we are going to say no, on the contrary, you are not."
Labor's Anthony Albanese says it's ridiculous, inappropriate and undemocratic for the Senate to be asked to vote on the repeal legislation before the government fully explains its direct action measures.
Mr Albanese says the Greens' history on taking real action on climate change is disappointing.
"The fact is that when it comes to the CPRS (Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme) they twice voted down a price on carbon in the Senate and on the second occasion had five Greens got up off their chair and walked across and voted for a price on carbon. Had the CPRS been voted in in December 2009, we would not now be talking about whether there should be a price on carbon. It would have been entrenched."
The Greens' stance is being welcomed by manager of government business Christopher Pyne.
"Christine Milne is showing more character, more political integrity than Bill Shorten. Bill Shorten is still playing games, still ignoring the public's wishes that the carbon tax be abolished whereas at least Christine Milne is showing the intestinal fortitude to have the fight in the Senate and to have a vote on it before Christmas so the government can get on with its program."
The legislation is expected to reach the Senate in early December in time for the final fortnight of sittings for the year.
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