Tony Abbott tells Palmer United Party senators to stay true to carbon vow

TONY Abbott has cautiously reminded Palmer United Party senators of their pre-election commitment to axe the carbon tax.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott speaks during the Liberal Party of Australia 57th Federal Council held at the Sofitel Hotel on Saturday, June 28, 2014, in Melbourne, Australia. Picture: Hamish Blair

TONY Abbott has cautiously reminded Palmer United Party senators of their pre-election commitment to axe the carbon tax, while Greens leader Christine Milne declared she still hoped the Palmer-run party could reverse its position.

As parliament prepares for the sitting of the new Senate, which is officially installed today, the Prime Minister said he expected all crossbench senators to remain true to their election promises.

“I expect all of the crossbench senators to be true to their pre-election commitments,” he said on ABC radio. “Obviously the Palmer senators did make that commitment loud and clear before the election that they were against the carbon tax and they would repeal it.

“I don’t take anything for granted and I don’t count my chickens prematurely but nevertheless I think the public are entitled to expect the carbon tax to go in the next week or so.”

But Senator Milne said there was still time to convince the PUP senators to keep the current Labor-Greens backed emissions trading scheme, which would see a floating carbon price introduced next year.

“I don’t accept the premise that the Palmer United Party won’t change their mind and support the ETS that we’ve currently got,” she said on Sky News. “Previously (Palmer) said he wouldn’t support the renewable energy target … and now he does.

“I really welcome that he supports the RET and Clean Energy Finance Corporation and I still hope to be able to persuade him to support the Renewable Energy Agency and to keep the emissions trading we’ve got.”

Opposition leader Bill Shorten used a Q and A session at a leadership forum to also declare Labor was not discouraged from supporting an ETS.

“We are not discouraged from supporting an emissions trading system, we are not discouraged from championing the case that climate change is real,” he said.

“We are not discouraged from having a renewable energy target, because to do so would be to pull up the draw bridge and say that Australia’s just not smart enough to deal with our challenges.”

Senator Milne said the “environment movement” and the Greens would use the next few weeks to lobby Mr Palmer and his PUP senators.

The Greens will have a record 10 senators when the upper house sits from July 7, while PUP senators will share the balance of power with other members of the crossbench.

The government will need six of the eight independent senators to vote in favour of its legislation if Labor and the Greens vote against it.

Last week Mr Palmer announced his party would back the repeal of the carbon tax if lower power prices for consumers were guaranteed, but said PUP would vote against the government’s bid to abolish the CEFC, RET and Climate Change Authority.

He said PUP would support an ETS “once Australia’s main trading partners also take action to establish such a scheme”.