Focus on economy, not climate: Abbott

The opposition should focus its attack on the government's handling of the economy
rather than get distracted by climate change, coalition frontbencher Tony Abbott
says.
Mr Abbott, a conservative Liberal MP, suggested in a column for The Australian on
Friday that the opposition should pass Labor's proposed emissions trading scheme to
avoid a fight it can't win.
"I certainly expect that, at this point in time, this is not the best ground for us
to be fighting on," Mr Abbott told ABC Radio on Monday.
He added that while he thought the science of climate change was "contentious", the
coalition would be better off exploiting the government's political vulnerability on
the economy.
"You don't have to fight on all issues all of the time."
A Senate vote on an emissions trading scheme is due on August 13.
But the legislation appears doomed with the government signalling it will not back
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull's nine conditions for coalition support,
announced on Friday.
Climate Change Minister Penny Wong said the government would negotiate with Mr
Turnbull if he could show his party room supported his position.
"He simply hasn't done that," she told ABC Radio on Monday, adding Labor would be
unwilling to delay a vote because the emissions trading policy had been flagged
since last December.
Meanwhile, a coalition senator has compared the opposition's approach to the ETS
with the doomed Australian Democrats' negotiations with the Howard government on the
GST.
The Democrats were irreparably divided after passing the coalition government's tax
reform proposals through the Senate in 1999, and were voted out of the upper house
eight years later.
In an unfortunate analogy, Liberal senator Mitch Fifield likened Mr Turnbull's list
of nine conditions for coalition backing of Labor's ETS to the Democrats giving the
Howard government a list of principles to ensure their support for the GST.
"Let's recall the Australian Democrats when they were looking at the GST
legislation," Senator Fifield told Sky News on Monday.
"They put down a series of principles which they wanted the then government to address.
"They were open to negotiations. It's not an
unreasonable thing to do."
The government would sit down with the opposition if it was serious about
negotiating an ETS, Senator Fifield said.