I hope he does have to call a Double dissolution and send whats left of Labor and the greens into the black hole they both deserve to be in and to never be seen again in Australia.
Double dissolution still an option over carbon tax if Labor steps in
AN Abbott government would take every constitutional option available to kill off the carbon tax, leaving open the prospect of a double dissolution election if Labor stands in its way.
In his strongest comments on the issue, Tony Abbott yesterday left open the possibility Australians would again head to the polls if Labor blocked his plans to repeal carbon tax legislation in the Senate.
"We will do whatever we need to do to scrap the carbon tax, including use of constitutional options open to us," he said.
But confusion remains on how Labor would vote.
Mr Abbott said "no sane political party" (my side note ***labor and the greens are NOT sane) would stand in his way and take "electoral poison" by supporting a position that already cost them an election.
Labor to die defending a useless tax it wants gone
Kevin Rudd, July 16:
Today we’ve taken the decision to terminate the carbon tax.
Rudd, August 25:
I don’t think our actions on the carbon tax were right, that’s why I changed it to move towards a floating price,” the Prime Minister told ABC TV.
“To begin with, we didn’t have a mandate for it.”
Labor now admits it had no mandate for a carbon tax it promises to “terminate”, yet - what madness, what deceit - seems determined to block its repeal in the Senate:
Labor is shaping, in Abbott’s words, to “commit political suicide twice” by pledging to use the Labor-Greens control of the Senate to keep the carbon tax and force voters back to the polls next year for a double-dissolution election on the tax.
While refusing to entertain “hypothetical” questions about Labor’s attitude in opposition to the carbon tax Rudd made it clear he thought Labor was on the “right side of history” and would remain so into the future.
Deputy Labor leader and potential opposition leader Anthony Albanese was even blunter about not changing, and Environment Minister Mark Butler entrenched Labor’s refusal to repeal the carbon tax.
And:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd ... threatened to block the Coalition’s direct action plan, possibly forcing another election should Tony Abbott become prime minister…
Asked whether carbon pricing was ‘’an article of faith’’ for Labor now and in the future, Mr Rudd said: ‘’Absolutely. Carbon pricing is fundamental to how you deal with climate change.‘’
Labor will argue that it isn’t defending the carbon tax but the emissions trading scheme that’s meant to replace it next year under Labor policy, rather than let it be replaced by the Coalition’s “Direct Action”. But the effect is much the same. Labor’s opposition (with Greens support) would protect the carbon tax, both as a fixed price scheme for now and as a floating-price scheme after that.
Labor broke its promise to never give us a carbon tax, and now threatens to break its promise to get rid of it.
And when you consider it’s prepared to face annihilation in defence of a tax - fixed or floating - that will make zero difference to global warming anyway.... well, completely insane.
UPDATE
Paul Kelly:
... if Labor does resist, then Abbott will drive another wedge through Labor’s voting base. He has tabled his attack: the carbon tax is a symbol of how Labor sold its soul to the Greens; if Labor keeps voting for a carbon price/tax then alienated voters will know that Labor is a lost cause.
Abbott, as PM, would use the authority of office and Labor’s dogmatic support for the carbon tax to steal even more of its voting base. How much will be left? At what point does Labor dogmatism on carbon become a fatal blunder?
In summary, Labor is trapped. If it stands by its policy it loses even more of its centrist voting base to Abbott. But if it surrenders to Abbott then Labor will be denounced as a party of sell-outs and lose its leftist base to the Greens.
