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To prevent a double dissolution and consequent early federal election, the Rudd government may need to make a deal with the five senators of the Australian Greens party and win support of two more non-Labor senators.
While axed opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull voted for the scheme in the lower house yesterday, his successor Tony Abbott’s climate change policy is supported by industry groups, including the Australian Coal Association.
Acil Tasman, Concept Economics and Access Economics have all predicted the loss of thousands of coal mining jobs under the CPRS.
Acil’s report forecast 3300 job losses by 2021, Concept Economics expects 9040 by 2020, and Access Economics predicted 6470 jobs would go from the black coal sector.
The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union disputes these numbers, using findings from consultancy McLennan Magasanik Associates to forecast 10,000-16,000 more coal mining jobs in 2020 with the CPRS in place.
