shorten & green labor ignore election result!

THE first of the Abbott government's bills to scrap the carbon tax has been rejected by parliament as the Senate continues what the coalition argues is an "industrial go slow".

Labor and the Australian Greens on Monday used their combined numbers in the upper house to knock back a bill to dismantle the independent Climate Change Authority.

The move has frustrated the government, which has been pressuring the Senate for months to get out of the way and pass its package of bills to unwind the Gillard government's carbon tax laws.

But the Senate hasn't made it easy for the government to push ahead with its plans.

The package of repeal bills passed the lower house in November, but has bogged down in Senate debate ever since.
The latest tactic will force the government to wait at least three months before it can bring the bill to scrap the climate body back to parliament.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt accused Labor of snubbing voters by ignoring the election outcome, and called on Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to back off in the Senate.
"Get them off strike and get out of the way," Mr Hunt told parliament on Monday.

He also challenged Labor to help struggling airlines, such as Qantas, by supporting two bills in the repeal package that impose charges on fuel used by the companies.
The government proposed separating the two bills from its wider package so the Senate could wave them through, but the strategy is unlikely to succeed.

Labor has agreed to scrap the carbon tax if it is replaced by an emissions trading scheme with a floating price, not the government's alternative direct action plan for combating climate change.

The government is hoping for smoother sailing when the new Senate takes over in July, when it might get its first real opportunity to see its legislation pass.

But the Greens hope a re-run of the West Australian Senate election in April will result in fewer coalition senators elected to the upper house.

Greens leader Christine Milne said the future of the Climate Change Authority depended on the makeup of the Senate post-July, but for now the minor party is claiming victory.
"I am delighted that today the Senate has defeated Tony Abbott's push to try and tear apart a science-based recommendation and go with his anti-science obsession," she told reporters in Canberra.

The government vowed to abolish the authority as an election pledge, arguing it was an unnecessary climate change bureaucracy introduced by the Gillard government.

http://www.news.com.au/national/breaking-news/bill-to-scrap-climate-authority-fails/story-e6frfku9-1226843710136