"There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead."
These are the words of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, well, we got a carbon tax nobody but the Greens wanted after Julia Gillard allowed three independents and one Greens MP to form a minority government in 2010. Most would strongly argue Labor policy was dictated by a single Greens MP in the House of Representatives and passed unabated through the Greens controlled Senate.
When Kevin Rudd was reinstated as Prime Minister, he announced the Labor government will scrap the carbon tax and install an emissions trading scheme in its place. I now have to ask why former Rudd/Gillard/Rudd minister and current opposition leader Bill Shorten is now blocking the carbon tax repeal in the Senate?
Has Shorten the kingmaker suddenly had another change of mind? First he supported Kevin Rudd, then Julia Gillard, blocked Rudd's multiple return attempts before deciding just before a leadership spill to change his support to Rudd ensuring Gillard was defeated as Prime Minister.
When Shorten was a minister in the Rudd government, lets also keep in mind that he was the lynch-pin in the 2012 downfall of Gillard and reinstatement of Rudd. He was also was a key policy advocate in the failures of the Labor government that supported the carbon tax.
Rudd always made policy on the run, the NBN plans were scribbled on a napkin, the disastrous pink batts scheme was costed over a long weekend and the idea to move the Royal Australian Navy from Sydney to Brisbane to shore up his personal vote never gained traction in the now lethargic community tired of big public statements and lack of action.
Why then does Bill Shorten, who supported the dismantling of the carbon tax in 2012 now block its repeal in 2013?
When Kevin Rudd was reinstated as Prime Minister, he announced the Labor government will scrap the carbon tax and install an emissions trading scheme in its place. I now have to ask why former Rudd/Gillard/Rudd minister and current opposition leader Bill Shorten is now blocking the carbon tax repeal in the Senate?
Has Shorten the kingmaker suddenly had another change of mind? First he supported Kevin Rudd, then Julia Gillard, blocked Rudd's multiple return attempts before deciding just before a leadership spill to change his support to Rudd ensuring Gillard was defeated as Prime Minister.
Rudd always made policy on the run, the NBN plans were scribbled on a napkin, the disastrous pink batts scheme was costed over a long weekend and the idea to move the Royal Australian Navy from Sydney to Brisbane to shore up his personal vote never gained traction in the now lethargic community tired of big public statements and lack of action.
Why then does Bill Shorten, who supported the dismantling of the carbon tax in 2012 now block its repeal in 2013?
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