Carbon price lives to see further debate, as Muir blocks vote

The Abbott government’s efforts to fast-track the repeal of Australia’s carbon pricing scheme have again been stymied in the Senate, after rookie Victorian MP Ricky Muir broke ranks with the micro-party bloc to vote in favor of further debate on the issue.

With the commencement of the new Upper House on Monday, the added weight of the Palmer United Party senators is expected to all but guarantee the passage of the carbon tax repeal legislation through the Senate. But first it must be put to a vote – something the government hoped would happen on Wednesday, after the Manager of Government Business, Mitch Fifield, motioned for the legislation be declared urgent.

But it was not to be, with the Motoring Enthusiast Party senator throwing his crucial vote in with fellow crossbench senators, Nick Xenophon and John Madigan, and with Labor and the Greens.

It’s another blow, albeit a small one, to the Abbott government’s current political raison d’être – delivered just hours after a former UK minister from the ultra conservative Thatcher government described his party’s quest to scrap the carbon price as “reckless” and “deeply shaming.”

Lord Deben, who served in Thatcher’s government as John Gummer, told Guardian Australia on Wednesday (and the ABC’s Lateline program on Tuesday night) that the Australian government was out of step with centre-right politicians around the world on the urgency of tackling climate change.

“Conservatives around the world are taking action on climate change, including Britain and Germany. It’s in the DNA of conservatives to hand on a better world to your children and I hate that Australia is letting down conservatives around the world,” Deben said, describing Abbott as someone who “clearly …refuses to accept the science of climate change.”

Today’s vote from Muir – a 32-year-old former timber worker from Gippsland who, according to this recent IPA opinion piece, is more in touch with the vast majority of Australia’s population than any other currently serving MP – represents another, perhaps even more surprising, conservative political perspective that doesn’t quite gel with Abbott’s.

More predictable were the reactions to the motion from Labor and the Greens, with Opposition Senate leader Penny Wong describing it as an outrage: “It is an absolute disgrace and really demonstrates the arrogance of this Government.”

For the Greens’ part, party leader Christine Milne said the Senate could not allow the Coalition to “ram through” the repeal of “probably the most important package of bills for Australia’s future.”

South Australian independent Senator Nick Xenophon called on his fellow crossbenchers to allow debate to continue, declaring his vote was “about the Senate doing its job.”

Debate on the legislation continues, with a vote expected tomorrow.