"It's more positive than it's looked in a long time," he said. "There are obvious similarities in the concerns faced by members of parliament representing rural constituents and the Greens. This issue is really going to affect rural areas."
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Australia Casts 'Good Negotiator' Combet in Climate Change Role
2010-09-14 03:23:17.5 GMT
By James Paton
Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Australian Prime Minister Julia
Gillard has tasked Greg Combet, the former union leader and coal
mining engineer who becomes climate change minister today, with
leading talks on imposing a price on carbon emissions.
Gillard, who held on to power after gaining support from
the Greens Party and three independents, appointed Combet in a
Sept. 11 announcement of ministers who are due to be sworn in
today in Canberra. Combet, who previously assisted Penny Wong in
that portfolio, takes on the post as Australia, the world's
biggest coal exporter, seeks to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
"The government is maintaining in the role someone who has
detailed expertise in the climate change area," Martijn Wilder,
a partner at Baker & McKenzie in Sydney and head of the law
firm's climate change practice, said by phone today. "It shows
they are quite serious," he said. "He's regarded as a very,
very good negotiator, and if they go back down the route of
negotiating an outcome, he will be the person to do that."
Combet, 52, led the Australian Council of Trade Unions from
1999 to 2007, overseeing a campaign that obtained a settlement
for James Hardie Industries SE asbestos victims and successfully
fighting employment laws introduced by the government of former
Prime Minister John Howard, according to his website. He didn't
respond to requests to be interviewed for this story.
The Greens garnered a record number of votes in the Aug. 21
general election after the ruling Labor Party delayed carbon
trading plans until after 2012.
Greens Support
After the closest election in 70 years, Australia's first
female prime minister received support from the Greens in
exchange for agreeing to set up a climate change committee to
move toward a carbon price.
The chances of getting a carbon price through parliament
have increased after the surge in voter support for the Greens,
John Mikler, a researcher at the University of Sydney who
specializes in climate change, said by phone.
"It's more positive than it's looked in a long time," he
said. "There are obvious similarities in the concerns faced by
members of parliament representing rural constituents and the
Greens. This issue is really going to affect rural areas."
It's not yet clear whether the government will pursue a
carbon tax or an emissions-trading system like the one proposed
in its previous carbon pollution reduction scheme, Wilder said.
'Can-Do Attitude'
"A significant number of people who voted for the Greens
did so because the Labor Party abandoned the CPRS, and the
political message now is quite clear -- the government has to be
pursuing a price on carbon," Baker & McKenzie's Wilder said.
Christine Milne, the deputy leader of the Greens, said
Combet has a "can-do attitude" that will help in climate-
change talks.
"While there are obviously policy differences between our
two parties, particularly the urgency of action and the depth of
emissions cuts needed, I look forward to working with him to
develop a credible policy response," Milne said today in an e-
mail response to questions.
While many Australian businesses want the certainty a
carbon price would provide, Combet still faces a difficult task
in convincing all sides of the debate, Mikler said.
"The main challenge is to reconcile interests," he said.
"You have industries that are going to have to change and face
the burden of increased costs. They are the coal industry, the
coal-fired power stations, the constituencies where these are
important issues, and given that the government is a minority
government, holding on to seats is going to be important."
Combet, a Sydney native, was elected in 2007 to represent
the New South Wales seat of Charlton, where coal mining is one
of the main industries. In June 2009, he became minister for
defense personnel, materiel and science and was selected to
assist Wong, who will be finance minister in the new Cabinet.
Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd as prime minister in June after
a slide in voter support to election-losing levels. Rudd had
shelved his emissions-trading plan because of opposition in the
upper house Senate and a lack of action by other countries.
For Related News and Information:
Top stories: TOP AU <GO>
Top energy stories: ETOP <GO>
--With assistance from Marion Rae in Canberra. Editor: John
Viljoen, Ryan Woo.
To contact the reporter on this story:
James Paton in Sydney +61-2-9777-8698 or jpaton4@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Amit Prakash at +65-6212-1167 or aprakash1@bloomberg.net.
