Senators soon to vote on ETS

The odds of the government's emissions trading scheme being consigned to the scrap
heap have firmed following a change to the Liberal leadership.
With Tony Abbott bringing with him a new party line on climate change - to block the
scheme - the shift in numbers suggest the legislation is likely to fail.
Regardless, senators were continuing to debate amendments to the scheme on Tuesday -
its fifth day of deliberations - with the final vote likely late on Tuesday or early
on Wednesday morning.
The upper house has dealt with more than 150 of the 210 amendments so far.
An earlier hope to have the ETS draft laws referred to a Senate inquiry appears to
have been dashed.
Liberal senator Simon Birmingham said it was a lost cause without the support of the
crossbenches.
"They've (the Liberal Party) put the argument up with Fielding and others as long as
they can, and I think having failed to convince, I'd expect they won't waste the
Senate's time debating it," Senator Birmingham told AAP.
"It would have been our preference but it's not going to happen."
If there is no delay, the Senate will move to a final vote on the ETS with the
Liberals promising to block it.
Under the leadership of Mr Abbott, and to the dismay of Malcolm Turnbull, the
Liberals agreed overwhelmingly 54-29 in a secret ballot to vote to defer the
legislation and if that failed to vote it down.
But for the government, while there's life, there is hope.
It's made a last desperate plea for senators of good conscience to act in the
national interest and pass the legislation, which otherwise would result in a double
dissolution trigger.
Junior climate change minister Greg Combet confirmed on Tuesday the government was
adopting the negotiated emissions trading scheme as its own policy, which could be
seen as incentive.
At least one Liberal supporter of the amended ETS, Turnbull ally Senator Gary
Humphries, has gone on the public record refusing to rule out crossing the floor to
see it passed.
Others have declined to say, but the government is unlikely to find seven senators
disloyal or disgruntled enough to defy the party consensus.
Liberal senator Simon Birmingham, another Turnbull supporter, who has previously
backed the ETS deal, said it was not the time for colleagues to be rebellious.
"There's no choice for any of us as we rapidly approach the election but to give
Tony our wholehearted support," he told AAP, adding he would not cross the floor.
It was a whirlwind Liberal party room meeting on Tuesday morning that delivered the
potentially fatal blow to the government's carbon pollution reduction scheme.
The emissions trading debate took on a significantly brisker pace once the Liberals
found its new leader.
Last Wednesday, the Senate took hours to vote on a single amendment, but with rebel
Liberals no longer filibustering to prolong the debate, one block of 21 amendments
took barely minutes on Tuesday.
It could be the CPRS' final hours.
Meanwhile, the Australian Greens hope to take advantage of the political upheaval.
The hijacking of the Liberals by right-wingers, along with the government's flawed
ETS, could only mean a big swing in votes to the Greens, leader Bob Brown said.
He urged the government to get back to the negotiating table if it was serious about
seeing ETS legislation passed.