Australian Opposition To Vote Down Carbon Scheme

If the scheme does not go through, the Labor government could have a trigger to call an early election.

Australia's opposition leader reiterated on Sunday the coalition would vote against the government's proposed carbon emissions trading scheme next month unless it is changed, in a move which could trigger a snap election.

The controversial package of 11 bills is set for a vote in the upper house Senate on Aug. 13, and its progress is being keenly watched around the world. The government does not control the upper house and needs an extra seven votes to get it through.

If the scheme does not go through, the Labor government could have a trigger to call an early election, which polls suggest it would easily win.

On Friday, as some of his colleagues called for the conservatives to vote for the scheme to avoid an election it would lose, opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull announced a series of nine changes he wanted to see to the legislation.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has described the demands as a "shopping list", while climate experts say they would make the scheme too soft on polluters.

However, Turnbull said on Sunday that without the changes the scheme would not get the support of the opposition coalition, and called for the government to negotiate.

"If the scheme is presented in its current form on August 13 it will be voted down by the coalition in the Senate as we've already agreed," Turnbull told Australian Broadcasting Corporation television.

Under former prime minister John Howard, Australia was the only major country besides the United States which had not joined the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. Rudd moved to join the protocol shortly after his election in 2007.

Rudd is due to face voters in late 2010 or early 2011, but could call a snap poll early next year if the Senate rejects the carbon trade plan twice. Rudd has said publicly that he intends to serve his full term.

The opposition, which controls the largest Senate voting bloc, is struggling for support in polls and would prefer a late 2010 election on the issue of government debt and economic management, rather than fight early on climate change.