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Carbon tax repeal passes lower house

The Federal government's carbon tax repeal bills have cleared the lower house of parliament and w...

Staff Reporter

Both Labor and the Greens made separate, unsuccessful attempts to have the bills rejected.

However, a coalition showdown is looming as Labor and the Greens have numbers in the upper house to block the Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill and its 10 associated bills.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in a statement that the vote was an important one, as a repeal of the carbon tax will create a stronger economy with more jobs.

"I want the repeal of the carbon tax to be passed by Christmas - and to give Australian families and businesses the help they need," he said.

While the government has insisted that scrapping the carbon tax will have immediate benefits, many in the landfill sector are concerned about the transition from the current carbon price mechanism scheme.

In its submission, the Australian Local Government Association cited management of unspent carbon price liability funds and spending on carbon abatement measures as key areas of focus and pointed out that the prospect of the repeal presents a considerable challenge to many local governments, especially those who have invested heavily in measure to reduce carbon dioxide emissions (see Related Stories).

The Australian Landfill Owners Association (ALOA) has also submitted its recommendations and is seeking for the repeal to only be implemented at the end of a full compliance year.

It also said that a uniform "price-reduction' from the industry cannot be expected as price increases that were applied in response to the carbon tax were varied due to a multitude of factors including whether the landfill was covered by the CPM, individual company forecasts of future landfill collection and combustion and the extent of landfill gas collection investment that was put in place.

ALOA is also calling for special arrangements to be established so that local government landfills can continue to report under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting scheme through related legislation.

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