Here's hoping you haven't thrown away your signs from the March in March — it looks like we've got a double dissolution on our hands.
The Abbott government has failed in its first bid to scrap the carbon tax, with a Labor-Greens team-up in the Senate blocking a package of bills that would have repealed the Gillard-era climate change policy.
The Liberal benches immediately cried "Shame" at the result (and, to be fair, Tony Abbott WAS given a clear mandate to repeal the tax at the last election), but Labor said it couldn't support the repeal if it would lead to the government implementing its 'direct action plan'.
"Without a credible alternative, Labor cannot support the abolition of the existing clean energy policies," shadow climate change spokesman Mark Butler said in a statement.
"Tony Abbott should now abandon the so-called direct action plan," said Greens leader Christine Milne in a statement of her own, "which is little more than a slogan."
The government can't put the legislation forward again for another three months. If it fails again, it would provide a trigger for a double dissolution election, and we'd all go back to the polls to vote in new upper and lower houses.
We may not even have to wait that long — earlier today, the government set up a potential double dissolution by reintroducing legislation to scrap the Clean Energy Finance Corporation which was already defeated in the Senate last September.
If the Senate votes it down again (which seems like a safe bet), it could be used as grounds for a double dissolution election, although the constitutional implications of the bill weren't stressed when it was reintroduced today.
Debate on the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (Abolition) Bill 2013 has been adjourned for now — but don't be surprised if there's another sausage sizzle in your near future.
[via The Australian]
