Australian climate change action may be delayed: opposition
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Opposition members in the upper house of the Australian Parliament indicated on Monday that they were likely to support a move to delay a vote on an emissions trading scheme (ETS).
Opposition senators told The Australian newspaper they agreed with their Senate leader Nick Minchin who has said he would like the bill to be delayed.
The Opposition senators may now support a motion to delay the bill put by minority party senator Steve Fielding.
Fielding said he believed there were enough numbers in the senate to support this motion.
"It's common sense to wait until next year, not only because we don't know what the ETS looks like, but also so we can see what the rest of the world plans to do with climate change," he said.
This would delay the bill until after the Copenhagen climate change conference.
Also on Monday, police removed protestors who blockaded Parliament House calling for stricter emission controls.
The blockade was put into effect after Opposition senator Bill Heffernan, a noted climate change sceptic, gave an impromptu address to a rally.
