Australia: Backbench forces Josh Frydenberg into humiliating climate policy backdown, by James Massola.
Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg has been forced into a humiliating U-turn on climate change policy less than 48 hours after releasing details for a pending review. …
“The Turnbull Government is not contemplating such a scheme, we’re not advocating for such a scheme. What we are focused on is to drive down electricity prices and to increase energy security,” he said.
On Fairfax Media, he said: “They’ve got the wrong end of the stick because they’ve speculated that that is the Government’s policy, which it’s not.” …
The about-face follows a furious backlash from Coalition backbench, much of which has held opposition to any form of carbon price as an article of faith since Tony Abbott became opposition leader in 2009. …
Further stoking Coalition pressure, Mr Abbott declared on Tuesday night that “we’re against anything that’s a carbon tax or an ETS by stealth”.
hat-tip Joanne, Chris
