Julia Gillard government declared victory today after Senate has passed the Carbon law. The government has won the historic vote in the Upper House of 36 to 32.
Former Climate change minister and Finance Minister Senator Penny Wong said that “we accept the need of the act; we accept science on the need of climate change. He said we accept the need of science and putting a price on carbon is a best way to reduce emission.
Coalition leader Tony Abbott was overseas when Senate took its vote. The National Party frontbencher Senator Barnaby Joyce said that the tax would have to do nothing to change the temperature of global.
Now under this law a $23 a tonne carbon tax will be paid by about 500 high-emitting companies from next July, and about half of the revenue will be returned to households in the form of tax cuts and increases in pensions and family payments, and to compensate them as electricity generators pass through the cost of the new tax and another $9.2 billion over the first four years of the carbon pricing scheme will be paid to high-emitting industries with overseas competitors not subject to a tax in the result they will receive up to 94.5 per cent of their emission permits for free.
Report by Dushyant Tiwari