Govt refuses to 'split' climate bills

Labor has rebuffed calls from opposition parties and industry to allow a separate
vote on renewable energy targets (RET) in parliament next week.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Friday said he did not have the "slightest intention"
of calling an early election but wanted the emissions trading scheme (ETS), with the
RET included, dealt with later this year.
The coalition and all other non-government senators voted against the 11 ETS bills
in the Senate on Thursday, leaving the way open for an early election trigger if
they are defeated again in November.
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull and Australian Greens senator Christine Milne
called for the RET section of the ETS package to be "decoupled" and voted on in the
Senate next week.
Both the Greens and the opposition submitted proposed amendments to the RET bill to
the government on Friday.
The bill is designed to set renewable energy targets for electricity generation of
20 per cent by 2020, and could start having an impact from January, while the ETS is
not due to start until mid-2011.
Mr Turnbull questioned whether Mr Rudd was sincere in saying he did not want an
early election, saying the prime minister was following an "artificial" timetable
with the ETS legislation.
"Commonsense says that the government should be sitting down with the opposition and
constructively discussing and negotiating the design of the emissions trading
scheme," Mr Turnbull said on Friday.
But despite speculation the government was considering re-introducing the RET
section of the bills next week, Mr Rudd and the office of Climate Change Minister
Penny Wong poured cold water on the idea, saying they intended to take all 11 bills
back to the Senate in November.
Mr Rudd said the carbon pollution reduction scheme, or ETS, and the RET were two
separate systems but linked because of complementary compensation arrangements.
"But we've got parallel adjustment mechanisms in them for business, which have been
linked to reduce business complexity," Mr Rudd said on Friday.
"Now, we would, therefore, want that to be the case for the future so that there is
just absolute simplicity."
But Climate Change Institute chief executive officer John Connor and ACTU president
Sharan Burrow both believe separating the RET from the main bills could be a way of
moving forward.
"If I was a betting person that's exactly what will happen and next week you'll see
the debate about the renewable energy target," Ms Burrow said.
Meanwhile, the Danish government, which will host international talks on climate
change at the UN summit in Copenhagen in December, has indicated it would like
Australia's ETS legislation in place this year.
Connie Hedegaard, the Danish minister for climate and energy, who will play a lead
role in the Copenhagen talks, hinted it would be helpful if the ETS was passed by
then.
"I am confident that the Australian government is doing everything possible to pass
the necessary legislation prior to the UN climate conference in December," Ms
Hedegaard said in a statement on Friday.
"The world needs the developed countries to take a strong lead in combating climate
change and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions."