Ricky Muir link to PUP strains on repeal bill

CLIVE Palmer’s alliance with incoming senator Ricky Muir may unravel on the very first vote of the new Senate after July 1.

CLIVE Palmer’s alliance with incoming Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party senator Ricky Muir may unravel on the very first vote of the new Senate after July 1.

The Australian understands that Mr Muir plans to vote against the carbon tax repeal bills unless the Abbott government supports the automotive transformation scheme.

This would be in direct conflict with the position Mr Palmer laid out in his Wednesday news conference with former US vice-­president Al Gore.

Mr Muir may be supported in his stance by independent senator Nick Xenophon and Democratic Labour Party senator John Madigan — with the bloc potentially deciding the outcome of the vote.

If the Abbott government refuses to revive the $700m automotive transformation scheme that Kim Carr set up as industry minister during the previous Labor government, the combined votes of Labor, the Greens and the three crossbenchers would defeat the carbon tax repeal bills.

This could force the Abbott government to go to a double-­dissolution election to honour its election commitment to scrap the carbon tax.

Mr Muir, Senator Madigan and Senator Xenophon are believed to favour reviving the automotive transformation scheme to assist components parts manufacturers in the wake of the decisions by Holden, Toyota and Ford to cease building cars in Australia.

The Abbott government has made clear its intention to “end the age of entitlement”, as well as cease subsidising the car industry, and is therefore unlikely to accept the demands of the senators without attracting significant internal party criticisms.

Senators Madigan and Xenophon are believed to have approached Mr Muir to convince him that his power within the future Senate — and hence his ability to achieve policy outcomes analogous with why he ran for election — will increase if he votes according to his own interests on each piece of legislation that comes before the Senate, rather than as part of the Palmer United Party bloc.

The Abbott government needs the votes of six of the eight crossbenchers in the new Senate to pass legislation.