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AUSTRALIA’S Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull surrendered to opponents of legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions today, scrapping emission reduction targets from the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) policy.
Mr Turnbull said that although most government MPs supported the target of reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 26 per cent below 2005 levels, that support was not enough.
He conceded that he could not get legislation through parliament’s lower house, where his conservative coalition holds only a single-seat majority.
“Politics is governed by the iron laws of arithmetic and in a house of representatives with a one-seat majority … if a small number of people are not prepared to vote with the government on a measure, then it won’t get passed,” he said.
Some MPs, including former PM Tony Abbott, argue the government should be focusing on cutting electricity prices instead of cutting emissions.
Mr Abbott deposed Mr Turnbull as leader of the conservative Liberal Party in 2009 over differences in energy policy, but the tables were turned in 2015 when Mr Turnbull emerged triumphant from a leadership ballot by the party’s MPs concerned by the government’s poor opinion polling.
The PM dismissed rumours that Abbott ally and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton will challenge for the leadership, declaring: ”He has given me his absolute support.”
This was confirmed by Mr Dutton, who tweeted: “In relation to media stories today, just to make very clear, the Prime Minister has my support and I support the policies of the government.”
A general election is due early next year and the government is trailing the opposition Labour Party in the most recent opinion poll.
An Ipsos poll published in Fairfax newspapers showed support for Mr Turnbull’s Liberal-National coalition falling four points to 45 per cent, 10 points behind Labour and enough for a crushing electoral defeat.
Though Australia remains a signatory to the Paris accord, the removal of emissions targets from the NEG mean the country has no legislative or regulatory path to meeting the agreement’s requirements.
