FED:Gillard plays down Windsor carbon comments

AAP General News (Australia)
04-14-2011
FED:Gillard plays down Windsor carbon comments

By Paul Osborne, AAP Senior Political Writer

CANBERRA, April 14 AAP - Prime Minister Julia Gillard has played down a key independent
MP's claim that her government doesn't have the numbers to pass its carbon tax.

The government wants a carbon price from July 2012 and has promised that more than
half of the revenue will go to households to compensate for prices rises for items such
as electricity and groceries.

Legislation is set to come to parliament in the third quarter of this year but Labor
will need the support of the Greens and independents to pass it.

However independent MP Tony Windsor, who is on the committee working on the scheme,
said on Thursday while he believed a carbon price could create renewable energy jobs in
the bush he would not "vote for something that does nothing".

"There is no carbon tax, there may not be a carbon tax," Mr Windsor told ABC radio.

"The prime minister doesn't have the numbers, as I understand it at the moment.

"I have a vote, others do as well, so you can never guarantee something until it gets
through a minority parliament."

Ms Gillard said Mr Windsor had consistently said that he would not commit to anything
until the legislation was finalised.

"He does believe that pricing carbon is the best way, an important way, of tackling
climate change," she said.

"But for an individual legislative package he's going to look at the package and wait
until the end and then judge."

Asked about the current carbon tax debate, a veteran Labor backbencher told AAP: "I
don't think it's going well for the government."

He said too much of the party's strategy was based on the coalition facing a public
backlash at the next election over rolling back the compensation, in a similar way to
Kim Beazley after the GST passed.

Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey said the coalition did not intend to pressure
the independents into opposing the tax.

"(But) I would ask them to listen to wise advice, and often it is the case that wise
advice comes from your constituents," Mr Hockey told Sky News.

"If you wonder why consumer confidence is down at the moment then look no further than
the government is imposing a carbon tax, a mining tax, flood tax."

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