Tony Abbott competing in the Lake to Lagoon, nearing the finishing line on Burns Way in Wagga Wagga. Image from Wikimedia.
Prime Minister elect Tony Abbott may face obstacles trying to deliver on his pledge to eliminate the carbon tax.
While Abbott has a legislative majority in the house, legislation to remove the tax will face hurdles from Greens and Labor in the senate.
National Political Correspondent Steve Lewis told the Voice of Australia that Abbott will have to have the negotiations skills of “Henry Kissinger” to get through his legislative agenda.
“I think what you can safely say that Tony Abbott . . . will not have control of the senate,” said Lewis.
“He will have to do deals. He will have to negotiate, at least until July next year. He will have to negotiate with Labor and the Greens who will be able to block legislation.”
“He’s gonna need the persuasive skills of someone like Henry Kissinger.”
Bill Shorten, touted as a possible Labour Party leader now that Kevin Rudd has resigned, said his party is sticking by the tax.
“I can say now, Labor believes in the science of climate change,” Mr Shorten said during a post election interview. “We believe there should be a price on carbon pollution.”
Shorten added that sticking by the tax is remaining true to his supporter’s values.
The Liberal Party’s Andrew Robb, in a post election interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation, took another kick at the carbon tax and the Labour Party.
“The carbon tax is a classic symbol of lurching and looking for a taxation solution, looking for intervention, not listening to the people, not observing what’s happening around the world, what others are doing.
“The minority government – there was no sense of direction, you know people felt there was no-one in charge, we’re heading different directions every week in response to the Greens’ demands and the crossbenchers and all the rest.”
