Whitlam's Children by Shaun Crowe

Author:Shaun Crowe [Crowe, Shaun]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780522874075
Publisher: Melbourne University Publishing

With Turnbull and Macfarlane backing the new CPRS, commentators presumed the Greens’ critique superfluous. A combined Labor and Coalition constituted an overwhelming majority in each chamber of parliament. But just days after Macfarlane agreed to Wong’s deal, the divisions within the Opposition finally spilled over. Opponents of climate policy challenged the party’s leadership, with Joe Hockey and Tony Abbott confronting Turnbull.43 Abbott, the candidate most vehemently opposed to the CPRS, was considered an eccentric, outside chance. He won by a single vote.44

Although the fallout from the change was widespread, it altered the parliamentary dynamic on climate policy radically. Without Opposition support, Labor could no longer pass its bill without the Greens. But after the legislation moved from the House to the Senate, the minor party held its position. Its decision to oppose the CPRS—voting against the bill for a second time, alongside the Coalition—represents the most significant and enduring climate dispute between the two parties. Greens figures remain convinced of their choice, despite ongoing Labor criticism. As Adam Bandt put it, the party could not support a policy designed in consultation with the Coalition:

[Rudd] picked his dancing partner and chose to develop a scheme that was browned down enough for the Liberals to be able to support it. And then he pushed it to the point where it cost Malcolm Turnbull the leadership and, instead of picking up the phone to the Greens and saying: ‘Well, I’ve got this scheme I’ve negotiated with the Liberals. Can I talk to you now about how we might pass it through the Senate?’, he just bowled it up [sic] expecting us to vote for it. That’s no way to run a country. If your plan A falls down, you go to plan B. You don’t just turn up to other people with plan A and expect them to pass it.45

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