Australian PM abandons plan to embed emission reduction target in law

Source: Xinhua| 2018-08-18 11:53:57|Editor: Xiang Bo
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CANBERRA, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has bowed to pressure from his own party and abandoned plans to legislate a carbon emission target.

Turnbull on Friday night made key changes to his signature energy policy, the national energy guarantee (NEG), so that a proposed 26-percent emission-reduction target would not be embedded in law.

The move came after Turnbull faced a revolt from conservative members of his own Liberal National Party (LNP) who were not only preparing to vote against the bill but also to mount a leadership challenge against the prime minister over the target.

Turnbull will instead propose setting the emission reduction target, which has been criticized by environmentalists as not being ambitious enough, via regulations that do not require a vote.

The prime minister defended coupling the emission reduction target with the NEG as late as Tuesday, saying to do otherwise would deny the parliament's voice on the issue.

"Now, we believe in democracy," he told the parliament on Tuesday.

"We believe the parliament should have a say in this and so if we legislate that, then a subsequent government, whether it's of our side of politics or the other, would have to persuade both Houses of Parliament to make any change to it, and that is a great security."

However, with dissent and speculation over his leadership growing as the week went on, Turnbull backed down.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, the most senior conservative member of the government and the man considered most likely to challenge Turnbull for leadership, on Saturday said Turnbull had his full support.

"Just to make very clear, the prime minister has my support and I support the policies of the government," Dutton wrote on social media.

The revised NEG will likely be debated by the LNP party room in Canberra on Tuesday, paving the way for the policy to be taken to the parliament for a vote.

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