Govt aims to exploit climate divisions

The federal government is ramping up efforts to exploit climate change divisions
within the coalition, demanding Malcolm Turnbull guarantee there will be a Senate
vote on emissions trading laws this year.
Still, the government remains optimistic about striking a deal the opposition leader
will take to his partyroom.
As the government and coalition continue to negotiate amendments to the carbon
pollution reduction scheme legislation, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is turning the
screws on Mr Turnbull, knowing he can't give any guarantees about whether the Senate
will back any agreement or even if it will come to a vote.
Many of the coalition's most vocal climate change sceptics are in the upper house,
including Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce and senior Liberal Nick Minchin.
After using an extraordinary amount of political capital just to get the coalition
to agree to negotiations with the government, Mr Turnbull has to go back to the
joint party room to get final approval for any deal.
There is strong resistance from some in the coalition to striking a deal no matter
what the government is prepared to offer, with 10 members speaking out during
Tuesday's partyroom meeting.
In question time, Mr Rudd attempted to separate Mr Turnbull and the opposition's
chief climate negotiator, Ian Macfarlane, whom he described as his "good friend and
colleague", from the rest of the coalition.
While he praised their negotiation efforts, Mr Rudd said: "I'm ... concerned about
what is actually happening in the overall ranks of the coalition and Liberal Party
room."
"We want to continue these good faith negotiations with the Liberal Party and the
National Party," Mr Rudd said.
He urged Mr Turnbull to guarantee there would be a point to the negotiations.
"It is important that he provides an assurance to the parliament ... today that they
will not block a vote on this in the Senate, that these are good faith negotiations.
That they will be brought to a conclusion."
Following a deliberate delay on Tuesday, the Senate began debating the package of
bills that make up the CPRS on Wednesday.
It is likely to provide more fodder for the government, with a string of opponents
of the laws pencilled in to speak.
Assistant Climate Change Minister Greg Combet urged the coalition not to let the
sceptics win out.
"It is extremely important for this country that the views of the sceptics not be
allowed to block possible agreement with the government which would result in the
passage of the CPRS," he told parliament.
Despite their eagerness to extract maximum political mileage from the issue, Mr Rudd
remains keen to do a deal.
An Australian scheme would be a major coup for him on the international stage, with
the prime minister playing an increasingly important role in trying to reach
consensus in Copenhagen next month.
"We are confident we can reach an agreement with the Liberals," Mr Rudd told reporters.
He was confident, too, that any Copenhagen deal would have substance amid fears it
could become another exercise in motherhood statements.
"I think there is a danger that some assume that first exercise we are talking
about, this Copenhagen agreement, should somehow drift off into a statement of
anodyne political principles," he said.
"Let me tell you the direction in which we are pushing hard, which the Danes are
pushing hard, and which I believe the Americans are pushing hard, is for an
operational framework agreement capable of giving real guidance to technical
negotiators to translate into a legally binding global treaty."