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Abbott faces fight to push through agenda

SYDNEY — Australia’s conservative government yesterday tabled its first package of laws since taking power in September, kicking off a battle with opposition parties that may stall its legislative programme and possibly trigger fresh elections.

Tony Abbott. Photo: AP

Tony Abbott. Photo: AP

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SYDNEY — Australia’s conservative government yesterday tabled its first package of laws since taking power in September, kicking off a battle with opposition parties that may stall its legislative programme and possibly trigger fresh elections.

The opposition Labor Party and pro-environment Greens have threatened to block nearly all of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s key policies — including plans to repeal Labor’s unpopular taxes on mining profits and carbon emissions that helped get his Liberal-National coalition elected.

“Unfortunately, the new government cannot undo the past,” the Prime Minister said while introducing the Bills to Parliament yesterday. “We can only make the future better.”

Mr Abbott’s government was elected by a landslide on Sept 7 on pledges, among others, to cut corporate taxes and curb the rising tide of asylum seekers. Its agenda is opposed almost entirely by both Labor and the Greens, which together wield the balance of power in the Upper House, where laws receive final approval.

The package of Bills also includes legislation to raise the nation’s debt ceiling before next month to an amount Labor wants pared back.

Another reform takes aim at union power in the construction industry.

Mr Abbott said both the main opposition parties should respect his election mandate. Some voters opposed Labor’s carbon levy for driving up living costs, while the tax on the profits of large mining companies has been criticised for jeopardising jobs and foreign investment.

“The Australian people have pronounced their judgment against the carbon tax, they want it gone,” Mr Abbott told lawmakers yesterday.

“The Labor Party should do the right thing by the workers and the families of Australia and not stand in the way of scrapping this toxic tax.”

In Parliament, the Greens branded him “Typhoon Tony” for allegedly ignoring climate change, which is blamed by some for the recent superstorm in the Philippines.

The Senate majority bloc, formed by Labor and the Greens, is likely to prove an ongoing problem for Mr Abbott, whose image may take a knock if he fails to push through any of the government’s core policies. A Newspoll survey this week showed his personal popularity has already waned since the election.

Politically, he now has the choice of waiting until a recast Upper House takes its place next July — potentially bringing in more conservative-leaning senators — or using a “double dissolution” mechanism to call fresh elections to overcome the political stalemate.

While September’s election ushered in a new Senate more favourable to his position on key issues, the loss of almost 1,400 ballot papers in Western Australia looks likely to force a recount in the resource-rich state that may as easily prove harmful as beneficial to the government.

A double dissolution, on the other hand, carries the risk of alienating people weary of voting again — a risk Labor also has to weigh in when blocking Mr Abbott’s agenda.

A fresh election also carries the danger that an even larger line-up of crossbench swing senators would emerge under Australia’s complicated preferential voting system, making the political landscape even more uncertain for Mr Abbott.

“I think a double dissolution is an outside possibility,” said Mr Nick Economou, a Melbourne-based political analyst at Monash University. “I think the thinking might be that we don’t want to risk that.” Dow Jones

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