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Australia’s opposition Liberal Party has elected a new leader, amid a searing row over the government’s carbon trading laws.
Tony Abbott was chosen to replace Malcolm Turnbull at a Canberra meeting.
Mr Turnbull had backed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading scheme (ETS), but Mr Abbott opposes it.
The government needs the support of the Liberals to pass the legislation in the Senate. The Liberal revolt throws Mr Rudd’s plans into turmoil.
Mr Rudd had wanted the legislation to pass the Senate – where his party does not have a majority – by the start of the Copenhagen climate change summit next week.
Last week he secured Mr Turnbull’s support for the bill, prompting the angry reaction from some Liberal lawmakers that triggered the leadership challenge.
Climate centrepiece
Mr Abbott won the final vote against Mr Turnbull by 42 votes to 41. A third challenger, Joe Hockey, was eliminated in first-round voting.
Minutes after his victory, Mr Abbott told a news conference that he would fight the ETS bill.
“We will seek to refer the legislation to [a Senate] committee for further scrutiny. If we cannot get the support for that course of action we will oppose the legislation in the Senate this week,” he said.
“I think on something of this magnitude, it is much more important to get it right than to rush it,” he added.
The government’s immediate hopes of passing the bill now rest on the possibility of some opposition lawmakers rebelling and voting with it.
But if the Senate fails to back the scheme – as now looks likely – Mr Rudd could call a snap election, correspondents say.
Opinion polls suggest he would win such an election and could then pass his climate legislation in a joint sitting of parliament.
But, says the BBC’s Nick Bryant in Sydney, the issue is complicated by the onset of the southern summer, when political hostilities tend to be put on hold.
The ETS, aimed at reducing Australia’s carbon footprint, is the centrepiece of the government’s environmental strategy.
Mr Rudd wants to cut Australia’s carbon emissions by up to 25% from 2000 levels by 2020.
But some opposition politicians question the scientific case for global warming and the energy lobby says the move would damage Australia’s economy.
Australia has the highest per capita carbon emissions among developed nations and coal is its biggest export.
from: BBC
The Australian government has struck a deal with opposition leaders on a revised carbon trading scheme.
The emissions trading scheme (ETS), aimed at reducing Australia’s carbon footprint, is the centrepiece of the government’s environmental strategy.
Opposition parties must give the new deal their backing on Tuesday ahead of a parliamentary vote due this week.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wants the scheme passed before next month’s UN climate summit in Copenhagen.
However, as members of the opposition coalition gathered to debate the new package on Tuesday, Australian media reported strong hostility from some senior party figures.
Correspondents say that if the ETS is defeated in Australia’s upper house, where the government does not have a majority, it would provide a trigger for an early election.
Earlier, Mr Rudd and Climate Change Minister Penny Wong outlined details of the deal.
To win opposition support, the government has agreed to additional compensation for heavy-polluting sectors such as the coal mines and the electricity industry.
‘Good package’
“I think we have an exceptional package. It’s a deal that will protect jobs and the environment in Australia,” said Ian Macfarlane, of the opposition Liberal Party.
He said he was confident the deal would be accepted by opposition parties, but added: “I will wait for the party room to see who is going to decide to vote for this.”
Mr Rudd wants to cut Australia’s carbon emissions by up to 25% from 2000 levels by 2020.
The BBC’s Nick Bryant, in Sydney, says the scheme is still unpopular among many opposition politicians, who question the scientific case for global warming.
Since most of Australia’s prosperity is based on its resources sector – and coal in particular – the energy lobby has argued it would damage the economy, he adds.
Australia has the highest per capita carbon emissions among developed nations and coal is its biggest export.
Mr Rudd told the BBC that he believed a framework agreement on carbon emissions could be struck in Copenhagen that could be turned into a legally binding treaty in 2010.
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