Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
enabling it to form a minority government. In the Senate, Labor had only
31 seats compared to 34 for the coalition, but support from nine Green
senators allowed it to prevail in selected votes.
Rudd's time as prime minister was brief. In June 2010 his own Labor Party
turned against him for a variety of reasons, including dislike of his leadership
style. Many believed he could not win the next election. he party voted to
replace him with Julia Gillard, his deputy prime minister. Gillard called a
snap election two months later that resulted in a “hung parliament.” In other
words, neither Labor nor the Liberal-National coalition had enough votes in
the House of Representatives to form a majority. Gillard was able to secure
the support of one Green MP and three independents to form a minority
government. In the Senate six Green Party senators gave it enough votes.
The situation reversed dramatically three months later when Rudd won
back the Labor Party leadership, and became the prime minister once again.
Gillard had called an early election and polling data showed she was likely
to lose. Part of her problem was that the carbon tax her party had passed
earned the ire of heavy industry, and seemed likely to raise prices to con-
sumers. Carbon dioxide emissions would be taxed at $25 per ton. Business
groups claimed it would hurt the economy, and few people shared Labor's
concern with reducing global warming.
Victory in the September, 2013, election went to the Liberal-National
party coalition led by Tony Abbott, who became the new prime minis-
ter. His coalition took 88 seats in the House of Representatives against 57
for Labor. Voter distaste for the carbon tax appeared decisive, and Abbott
pledged to scrap it. He had earlier announced that he did not believe the
science behind global warming. Abbot was personally very conservative,
and blatantly favored business and industry.
For the past two or three decades, the major parties have claimed that they
were pro-environmental. Labor promised to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, set tar-
gets to reduce energy consumption, protect rivers and coasts, and phase out
plastic shopping bags. It said it would support World Heritage listing of suit-
able areas of Cape York. From 1983 and 1990 when Bob Hawke was prime
minister, the government was the most favorable of any period. It blocked
hydroelectric dams in Tasmania, protected forests in Tasmania, Queensland,
and Victoria, stopped a mine at Coronation Hill in the Kakadu National
Park Conservation Zone, and blocked a pulp mill in Tasmania. The eco-
nomic prosperity during the period allowed the Labor Party not to be overly
concerned with the working class and to respond more to the middle class. 11
Until recently, the Liberals pointed with pride to their accomplishments
in taking a comprehensive approach, establishing parks, and improving
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