Australia/Climate change

Senate kicks out climate change bill

Article published on the 2009-12-02 Latest update 2009-12-02 10:27 TU

A solar powered traffic sign in Sydney
(Photo: Reuters)

Australia’s parliament has rejected a scheme laid out by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to cut the country’s carbon emissions. The rejection in the Senate was the second failure for the bill after it was rejected in August.

Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull, who supported the bill, was ousted by his own Liberal Party on Monday. Turnbull has been replaced by climate-change sceptic Tony Abbott. But Prime Minister Kevin Rudd passed up the opportunity to call elections and said the bill will be re-introduced.

Australia, which is sparsely populated, is the world’s worst polluter per person.

Rudd’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme was to be put into operation after his presence at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit in Brussels this week. It aimed to cut Australia’s carbon emissions by 20 per cent from 2000 levels by 2020.

Rudd will now have to attend Copenhagen without a firm agreement from his country after hoping to take a leading role at the summit.

America and China, the world’s two biggest polluters, have both made pledges to cut emissions.