Push for Australians to have say on carbon tax

CANBERRA: Australians may be asked to vote on whether or not they support a carbon tax to combat climate change after opposition leader Tony Abbott Monday called for a plebiscite on the issue.

Abbott, who narrowly missed ousting the ruling Labour Party in polls last August that ended in a hung parliament, says Prime Minister Julia Gillard went into the election promising no carbon tax but later reversed her decision.

"I am determined to try to ensure that the Australian people get to vote on Julia Gillard's carbon tax," Abbott told reporters in Canberra.

"And my plebiscite proposal is to bring about the vote on the carbon tax that the prime minister denied to people before the election."

Abbott, who plans to introduce a private members' bill on a plebiscite, said it should take place within 90 days of passing parliament.

For the bill to be passed it must receive the backing of the key independents whose support allowed Gillard to take power.

The final outcome of the plebiscite would be non-binding on the government.

But Abbott said it was "just inconceivable, absolutely inconceivable" that the government would ignore a vote of the Australian people.

The government, which is flailing at record lows in opinion polls, wants to introduce a price on carbon by July 2012, with this gradually giving way to a carbon trading mechanism within three to five years.

But the opposition says it will be a "great big tax" on Australians already facing rising costs of living, and endanger jobs and industry.

Gillard Monday dismissed Abbott's plebiscite push as a stunt.

"This is a complete stunt from Tony Abbott. Another day, another stunt, we're used to it," she said. "We've got to get on with the job of tackling climate change."

Unlike a referendum, which relates to a constitutional issue, a plebiscite is not binding on the government. In the past they have been held on the question of military service and daylight saving.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2011

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011