This article is worth a read. Oh and btw...........The labor leader gets a mention in the last few lines. LOL
As far as victories go, this one is surely bittersweet.
Clive Palmer, flanked by former US vice president Al Gore, announced on Wednesday he would help the government achieve its key election promise by backing the repeal of the carbon tax.
But in return the Palmer United Party leader wants a legal guarantee that electricity savings will be passed onto consumers and an emissions trading scheme ready to go if needed.
It's a tough list of demands for the Abbott government to swallow, but for now it's claiming victory.
"What we have seen today is vindication," Environment Minister Greg Hunt told reporters in Canberra.
"The announcement this evening means that the Senate will be following the coalition's plan."
But things won't go to plan when it comes to their "direct action" climate change plan, which passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday but now looks set for defeat in the upper house.
Mr Palmer blasted the $2.55 billion alternative scheme as a waste of money and said his three PUP senators - plus the Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party's Ricky Muir - won't back it.
It's hard to imagine how the government could support Mr Palmer's demands for an ETS, which they've repeatedly labelled a carbon tax with another name.
Under Mr Palmer's plan, an ETS would only become effective when Australia's main trading partners like China, the US and Japan implement similar schemes.
"This is designed to establish and encourage a fair global scheme quickly," Mr Palmer told reporters in Canberra, without elaborating on the details.
Mr Hunt said an ETS wasn't coalition policy, but Prime Minister Tony Abbott would be sitting down with Mr Palmer on Thursday to discuss his proposals.
He also said they could consider further steps to ensure consumers receive savings once the carbon tax is gone, even though there are safeguards in place to protect that anyway.
Despite all but killing off the carbon tax, environment groups and the Australian Greens quickly welcomed Mr Palmer's other surprise announcements.
PUP senators will not support the abolition of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation or the Climate Change Authority, or any changes to the renewable energy target before 2016.
The Clean Energy Council said Mr Palmer's support for the RET, the 20 per cent by 2020 target under review by the government, had delivered "a Titanic boost for the clean energy industry".
The Climate Institute's John Connor said more clarity was needed about Mr Palmer's ETS proposal, but at least Australia was no longer on track for a "climate policy wasteland".
Australian Greens leader Christine Milne cautiously welcomed the lifeline thrown to the climate agencies, but said she'd seek more detail from Mr Palmer.
"The whole country tonight will be shaking its head saying 'what does this actually mean?' and it would have been good to get some clarity," she told reporters in Canberra.
Labor leader Bill Shorten said the ball was now in the prime minister's court.
"He's the prime minister and it's his responsibility to tell Australians whether he intends on doing a deal with Clive Palmer," he said.
