THE Opposition spokesman on emissions trading, Ian Macfarlane, has attacked the National Party's attitude towards rural Australia as he jettisoned any hope of the junior Coalition partner playing any constructive role in emissions trading scheme negotiations.
Mr Macfarlane, who is negotiating amendments with the Government before Parliament resumes next week to debate the scheme, indicated that should there be the prospect of a deal, it would have to be with the majority support of Liberals.
Barnaby Joyce, leader of the Nationals in the Senate, reaffirmed yesterday that his party would not vote for any scheme, regardless of how many changes the Government accepted.
Mr Macfarlane told the Sydney Morning Herald: "We haven't given up on them. They've given up on us. It doesn't make much sense to me because there's so much at stake in this for the rural constituency."
Mr Macfarlane said the Nationals should be trying to amend the scheme to give farmers better treatment, rather than have the Senate defeat the legislation and give Labor the trigger for an early, double-dissolution election. "It is a huge gamble just to oppose this outright and not try to negotiate a better deal for rural people."
Last night, the Coalition's divisions on climate change were further laid bare on the ABC's Four Corners.
In comments which senior Liberals deemed explosive, the party's Senate leader, Nick Minchin, questioned Malcolm Turnbull's authority and declared man-made climate change a myth - a view he said most of his Liberal colleagues shared.
He said man-made climate change and pollution-reducing schemes were a left-wing conspiracy. "For the extreme left it provides the opportunity to do what they've always wanted to do - to sort of de-industrialise the Western world," he said. "The collapse of communism was a disaster for the left and really they embraced environmentalism as their new religion. For years the left internationally have been very successful in exploiting people's innate fears about global warming and climate change."
Senator Joyce hit back at Mr Macfarlane, telling the Herald the Nationals were helping farmers by rejecting the scheme outright. He said most Liberals sided with the Nationals. "We are reflecting the beliefs of our constituents, which are also the views of the majority of the Liberal Party."
Should a deal be possible with the Government, Mr Turnbull has promised to seek party room approval first. He has put his leadership on the line to get the Coalition to the negotiating table.
On Four Corners, Senator Minchin questioned Mr Turnbull's authority. "The leader, whoever he is or she is, is the ultimate authority figure in our party but when you're not the prime minister, you have less authority by definition."
Tony Abbott and senators Minchin, Cory Bernardi and Julian McGauran dismiss Mr Turnbull's argument that an emissions trading scheme was Coalition policy at the last election.
Mr Abbott said the policy was embraced then for "good reasons" but "that doesn't mean we can't modify the policy or change it or even abandon it".
A spokesman for the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, said Mr Turnbull staked his leadership on action on climate change. "If he refuses to repudiate his colleagues, that pledge was meaningless," he said.
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