Coalition agrees to vote down ETS

At least it’s a start:

A meeting of federal coalition MPs has agreed to vote down the government’s emissions trading legislation when it goes to a Senate vote on Thursday.

But the meeting did not endorse an alternative scheme, unveiled by Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull on Monday.

Instead, MPs welcomed the concept, which aims to double Labor’s carbon reduction target of five per cent yet cost 40 per cent less than the government’s model.

Under Mr Turnbull’s model, developed by Frontier Economics, electricity generators would operate under a separate baseline scheme.

Doing so would limit an increase in household electricity bills to $44 a year, compared to the $280 estimated in Labor’s carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS).

One coalition MP spoke against emissions trading in any form, expressing concern about the impact on power generators.

Earlier, Mr Turnbull took coalition’s climate change message onto the internet, calling on the government to negotiate on its doomed CPRS.

In the 90-second message posted on YouTube on Tuesday morning, Mr Turnbull says Labor is being reckless in pursuing its scheme without considering alternatives such as the “hybrid” scheme he launched on Monday.

Read it here.