Carbon reduction policies set for parliamentary battle

Labor has the numbers to pass the draft laws through the House of Representatives, but needs the support of at least seven Liberals or crossbench senators to pass the Upper House.
The Coalition’s policy is a direct action plan which aims to reward businesses for green initiatives. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said it's better than the Government's market-based emissions trading scheme of putting a tax on pollution.
Labor’s Greg Combet said, "The alternative approach offered by the opposition is nothing more than a pretend policy.
"Mr Abbott thinks climate change is in his own words crap and he has confirmed that again today," he said on February 2nd.
The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) issued a statement saying the Coalition’s climate change policy strikes at the real intent of pricing carbon, “providing an incentive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions without negatively impacting on jobs, investment, exports and growth.”
CEO Mitchell Hooke said the organisation “welcomes the shift to a policy designed to use incentives as a driver to reduce emissions rather than an approach that is pre-occupied with penalising business to raise revenue.”
The MCA said the Coalition’s proposal establishes an incentive for companies to invest billions of dollars in breakthrough technologies critical to reducing emissions.
“Without the commercial development and deployment of low emissions technology - such as clean coal - emissions reductions targets are merely a wing and a prayer.
“The failure of the Copenhagen climate change talks underscored the need to promote and adopt economically conservative climate change policies aligned with the rate of development of policies and actions across the rest of the world.”
The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME) has welcomed the release of the Coalition’s climate change policy.
CME chief executive Reg Howard-Smith said it was pleasing to see incentives form a key part of the opposition policy on climate change.
He said it was important climate change policy delivered emissions reductions at the lowest possible cost to the Australian economy.
“We will be undertaking further assessment of the Coalition climate change policy in close consultation with our members,” Howard-Smith said.
Debate on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill and related bills was adjourned by Parliament on February 2nd.