Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard told a press conference the federal government would reintroduce CPRS bills on February 2, when Parliament resumed after the Christmas break.
The version of the CPRS put forward this week was not identical to the scheme that was rejected by the Senate in August.
Although she said the government was giving the Liberal Party “one more chance”, Gillard revealed there would be no changes to the scheme before the third attempt next year, meaning the government will have a clear double dissolution trigger if the Senate blocks it again.
Meanwhile, new Liberal leader Tony Abbott labelled the CPRS as an energy taxation scheme and said he was not frightened of an election on the issue.
He would contest a climate change-themed election using tax-free energy efficiency and land management policies, according to the Australian newspaper.
ACIL Tasman, Concept Economics and Access Economics have all predicted the loss of thousands of coal mining jobs under the scheme.
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.
