Clive Palmer kills carbon action

CLIVE Palmer last night backed the repeal of the carbon tax without supporting any concrete alternative.

AUSTRALIA will be left without a major scheme to cut greenhouse gas emissions after Clive Palmer last night backed the repeal of the carbon tax without supporting any concrete alternative.

The Palmer United Party leader sounded the death knell for the carbon tax last night by confirming his senators would vote to abolish the impost after the new Senate takes shape next week.

In an unlikely pairing with former US vice-president Al Gore, one of the world’s leading climate change campaigners, Mr Palmer held a press conference in Parliament House to declare the carbon scheme dead.

Mr Palmer said the PUP would propose an emissions trading scheme to put a price on carbon but said it would only start when other nations did the same, an unlikely prospect in the short term.

He also vowed to vote against Tony Abbott’s alternative policy, the $2.8 billion Direct Action spending program, in a move that appears to kill off the scheme given it is also opposed by Labor, the Greens and minor parties.

“The carbon tax is an arbitrary tax and it sets a price on carbon at a level far above an international price for carbon, and in so doing it disadvantages Australians and that is why it should be repealed,” Mr Palmer said.

In a written statement, the PUP leader said the party would be “true to its promises” and would vote to abolish the tax.

The statement put no conditions on the PUP vote other than an amendment to require power companies to pass on their full cost savings to consumers. Further conditions are possible, however, as Mr Palmer will hold talks with the Prime Minister today to negotiate the party’s position, which has shifted several times since the election.

The declaration capped an absurd press conference last night where Mr Palmer and Mr Gore refused to take questions, saying they had to go to an “urgent dinner” and avoiding questions about whether the former vice-president had been paid for his appearance. Mr Palmer told the ABC last night Mr Gore had not been paid.

Greens leader Christine Milne dismissed Mr Palmer’s proposal for a long-term emissions trading scheme as “extremely vague” and noted that Australia already had an ETS due to come into effect under existing legislation. The outcome is a significant win for Mr Abbott in his bid to end the ­carbon pricing scheme, securing a majority in the upper house with support from the PUP, the Liberal Democratic Party, Family First and the Democratic Labour Party.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt said last night’s declaration was “good news” and the government would work with the PUP on amendments to ensure power companies passed on any savings to consumers.

“We welcome the fact the carbon tax will be repealed — that’s the unambiguous message from tonight,” Mr Hunt said.

The government is facing defeat, however, on the Direct Action program that Mr Abbott has put forward over more than four years to replace the carbon price.

Mr Palmer called Direct Action a “waste of money” and confirmed the PUP would vote against it, ensuring its defeat given similar objections from Labor, the Greens, the LDP and Family First.

In a surprising but untested proposal to act on climate change, Mr Palmer said the PUP would seek to legislate an emissions trading scheme that would only come into force when Australia’s main trading partners also took similar action. He did not elaborate on how the ETS would work, but said later it would not be a condition for his support in repealing the carbon tax. The scheme would set the carbon price at zero — a win for big polluters — and would change only in response to global action.

The PUP position appears set to prevent any substantial scheme being introduced to replace the carbon tax, prompting experts to warn last night that there would be no way to meet the government’s stated aim of reducing emissions by 5 per cent by 2020.

Mr Gore expressed his “disappointment” at the move to repeal the carbon tax as he stood in the Great Hall of Parliament House side-by-side with Mr Palmer, who owns one of Australia’s ­biggest producers of greenhouse gas emissions. As the ultimate owner of Queensland Nickel, Mr Palmer will be spared a carbon tax bill of at least $6 million a year if the impost is repealed.

While Mr Palmer has said he will not abstain from the carbon tax vote in the lower house, his position will be adopted by three PUP senators in the upper house and may be copied by the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party’s Ricky Muir, who has declared unity with the PUP.

In a challenge to other parts of the government’s agenda, Mr Palmer said the PUP would vote against any change to the Renewable Energy Target — designed to ensure 20 per cent of energy is from renewable sources by 2020 — before 2016. While that vow matches Mr Abbott’s commitment at the last election, it could stymie any attempt by the government to modify the RET in response to complaints from industry about the impact of the target on power prices.

Mr Palmer also said the PUP would vote to retain the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the agency set up by Labor as a way to invest $10bn of taxpayer funds into renewable energy schemes. The PUP position ensures the new Senate, like the current one, will veto the government attempts to dismantle the CEFC.

The government reintroduced the carbon tax repeal bill on Monday after the Senate rejected the bill in March, setting up a potential trigger for a double dissolution election if the upper house voted against the measure again.

Last night’s developments avoid that outcome although the Prime Minister is being tested on his willingness to call an election as Labor and the Greens block almost every major savings measure in the May 13 budget.

Labor challenged Mr Abbott to concede the flaws in the Direct Action scheme. “We will not support the repeal of the carbon tax unless there is a credible alternative that will deliver meaningful action to tackle climate change,” a spokesman for Bill Shorten said.