Conservative roots

This is precisely what we need – as has been said before, an election campaign is the only way in which the ETS can be exposed for what it is – a tax on everything based on flawed and exaggerated science.

TONY Abbott will steer the Liberal Party back to its conservative roots with a 2010 election campaign portraying Kevin Rudd as a Whitlamesque big spender whose climate change policies will smash Australian jobs.

The new Opposition Leader’s first act after ousting Malcolm Turnbull in a partyroom vote yesterday was to scrap his party’s support for Labor’s carbon emissions trading scheme, which he dismissed as “a great big tax”.

And Mr Abbott immediately moved to repair the Liberals’ shattered relations with the Nationals, embracing their contempt for the ETS after months of Mr Turnbull dismissing their views as irrelevant.

As Senate leader Barnaby Joyce rejoiced in a return of Coalition unity and pledged to pick apart Labor’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme “piece by piece”, the Labor Party released an advertisement warning that an Abbott government would take the nation backwards on climate change and industrial relations.

But Mr Abbott was unabashed, foreshadowing sharper policies on border protection and industrial relations to re-engage with his party’s conservative core.

“We have spent too much time arguing over whether we might look right-wing or that we might look like a return to the Howard government,” Mr Abbott told The Australian last night.

“What we need to do is to apply to problems common sense and forget about the tags.” (source)

Disappointingly, it looks like some Liberal senators will defy the new policy and vote with the government. Here’s the “name-and-shame” list:

• Judith Troeth
• Sue Boyce
• Gary Humphries

Fortunately, these three will not be enough to let the bill through, so by lunchtime, we can say “farewell to the ETS” – for now at least.