Nationals at odds with Liberals on ETS

The Nationals are at odds with their coalition partner on emissions trading, saying
they will not support a scheme until other countries follow suit.
The Rudd government wants an emissions trading scheme (ETS) in place by 2010.
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull wants it delayed until at least 2011.
Now, the Nationals have decided not to support a scheme unless other countries jump
on board.
The Nationals agreed to the policy, put forward by senator Ron Boswell at the
party's federal council meeting.
Senator Boswell said introducing the scheme before the rest of the world did would
hurt rural industries.
"We will go along with an ETS when the rest of the world goes along.
"We are not going to see our primary and secondary industries gutted," Senator
Boswell told AAP.
"That's exactly what would happen if we had an ETS and the rest of the world didn't
follow."
Nationals leader Warren Truss, addressing the meeting, said: "An ETS is not in
Australia's economic interest and it will not help cool the planet or save polar
bears".
Mr Truss used his address to attack the federal government's efforts to head-off the
worldwide economic crisis.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wanted a headline in the unlimited bank deposit scheme, he
said.
The government on Friday amended the scheme to include an insurance fee on deposits
over $1 million.
"I was going to begin with a joke, Labor's economic management. But this is more a
tragedy for Australia, not a joke.
"They bungled the bank deposit guarantees in the rush to make an ... announcement
for ... the news.
"Two weeks later, the government still does not know how the package will work."
He questioned the government's $10.4 billion stimulus package that will deliver
payments to families, pensioners and carers before Christmas.
"While Labor has spent all the available money on these bonuses, they have not fixed
any of the problems that made the bonuses necessary."
The Nationals' council meeting was the first since last year's federal election in
which the party's representation in the lower house dropped to its lowest level
ever, of 10.
That number has since fallen to nine after the party failed to hold on to former
leader Mark Vaile's Nationals heartland seat of Lyne in a by-election.
There has, however, been one highlight for the party this year - the kingmaking
performance of the West Australian party at the September 6 election.
The WA Nationals won four seats and struck a deal to help the Liberals form
government, but did not enter a formal coalition.
The Queensland Nationals also merged with the Liberals to form a new conservative
party - the Liberal National Party - in the state.
The different state approaches have fuelled debate over a possible merger or split
at the federal level.
Party leader in the Senate Barnaby Joyce, who has supported the idea of a merger,
told the conference it was unlikely to happen in the forseeable future.
"The merger was absolutely essential in our state (Queensland) ... At the federal
level it is a different issue because we must maintain the voice of the Australian
people and how they can be heard in the nation's parliament."
However, discussions of a merger or split will be debated behind closed doors at the
party's council meeting.