Dear Editor,
Your readers could have had a say on whether they wanted a carbon tax.
The Coalition presented a bill for there to be a plebiscite but it was quickly killed off in parliament. A plebiscite is a direct vote on an important public question, in this case, do Australian people support a carbon tax.
Family First Senator, Steve Fielding’s vote was crucial for the bill to be passed in the senate but he bizarrely voted with Labor and the Greens, despite opposing a carbon tax.
The bill’s fate in the House of Representatives was also uncertain without the support of Independents, Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott.
Windsor and Oakeshott seemed to be prepared to abandon regional Australia yet again despite the huge ramifications a carbon tax will have on the bush.
Perhaps they were worried a plebiscite would find most Australians oppose a carbon tax. The struggling Labor/Greens/Independent minority government would then be under enormous pressure to abandon it or take it to an early election.
For reasons of self preservation, they’ve made sure a seven person climate change committee has the final say.
Whatever happened to democracy?
Yours sincerely,
Senator Fiona Nash
Nationals Senator for NSW
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