From The Australian
Nationals turn on Malcolm Turnbull with support not guaranteed
Matthew Franklin and Dennis Shanahan
SENIOR Nationals have warned Malcolm Turnbull he can no longer take their support for granted, strongly attacking his "contempt" for their outright opposition to carbon emissions trading.
In a dramatic deterioration in relations within the federal Coalition, several key Nationals told The Australian yesterday that the Opposition Leader was running a one-way Coalition and must "give and take" on policy if he wanted continued support.
The Nationals climate change rebellion gained strength as former treasurer Peter Costello, former Liberal leader Brendan Nelson and former deputy prime minister John Anderson heaped pressure on Mr Turnbull by calling on the Coalition to reject Labor's ETS.
Mr Anderson, writing on today's commentary pages of The Australian, says an ETS is unacceptable to regional Australia and that if Mr Turnbull ignores Nationals' concerns he could so damage the Coalition it "might never be mended".
Mr Costello also said yesterday he expected the Coalition would continue to vote against the government's ETS to "make sure Australia doesn't handicap itself in a world race where other countries are looking after their own interests".
"It would be pretty silly if we didn't try to look after our own interests," he told Sydney's 2UE.
And Dr Nelson told parliament in his last speech before retiring that an ETS could not be introduced because it would be "a tax on everything" with no environmental gain.
Mr Turnbull has faced months of tension over his preparedness to work with the government to draft amendments to legislation putting in place its proposed emissions trading system.
Mr Turnbull supports an ETS but opposes legislating for the system ahead of an international climate conference in Copenhagen in December.
But the Nationals and many Liberals oppose an ETS outright and disagree with Mr Turnbull's willingness to amend Labor's legislation, which, if rejected, could trigger an early election.
Tension exploded at a meeting of Coalition MPs on Tuesday, after Dr Nelson implored colleagues to "stand for something", sparking 13 speeches of support in an open affront to Mr Turnbull's leadership.
Yesterday the Nationals went further, with veteran Queensland senator Ron Boswell warning Mr Turnbull to "remember West Australia" where the Liberal Party had to go "cap in hand" last year to win Nationals support to form a government.
"Don't just think we are always going to be there," said Senator Boswell, who for years has been the Nationals' staunchest coalitionist.
NSW senator Fiona Nash said coalitions had to be about "give and take" and that she was angry about Mr Turnbull's "presumptuous" view that the Nationals could have the freedom to oppose his position and then "come back later".
Senator Boswell agreed and gave the example of the Howard government's decision to abolish compulsory student unionism, which he said came because it was an article of faith for the Liberals, not because the Nationals felt strongly on the issue. "We're giving on quite a lot of things," Senator Boswell said. "But there's some things you can't give on and this is one of them. We just don't want to cross the floor and we'll all be jolly good friends after."
Another National, asking not to be named, said Mr Turnbull believed he could treat the Nationals' views "with contempt" and assumed "everyone would be friends" afterwards.
And Nationals Senate leader Barnaby Joyce said the ETS was "a new tax" that was poison in regional Australia. "We've had some very bad experiences with (Liberal policy on) guns and ... Telstra. We don't want any more bad experiences with our own constituency."
Nationals leader Warren Truss, a member of the front bench and therefore bound to support its position, said he was open to looking at amendments to Labor's legislation.
But he could not imagine backing an ETS unless it were radically different from Labor's current proposals.
"We've got serious reservations about emissions trading schemes per se," Mr Truss said. "Churning paper, churning money, buying pieces of paper doesn't reduce CO2 emissions. It's the practical things that you actually do."
Mr Turnbull stood firm, saying he would prepare amendments and take them to his partyroom. "We will then take them to the government and negotiate with them. We will get an outcome."
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