Australian climate bill back from the brink after political row reignites

The chances of Australia passing its controversial climate change bill were given a major boost today when it emerged that recently deposed opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull was preparing to defy his party and vote in favour of the proposed legislation next week.

Turnbull was ousted as leader of the opposition Liberal Party late last year when he agreed to support an amended version of the government's proposed emissions cap-and-trade scheme.

He was replaced by Tony Abbott who led Liberal opposition to the bill and defeated it as part of unlikely alliance with parliamentarians from the Green Party who also voted against the bill on the grounds that the five per cent cuts in emissions by 2020 promised by the legislation are not ambitious enough.

However, Turbull has now revealed he will vote in favour of the bill when it goes before the Senate again next week, as long as the government sticks with the amendments designed to protect Australian industries that were agreed with the former leader before the last vote.

In a statement released to the Australian Associated Press (AAP), Turnbull said that he was prepared to defy his own party, which has been fiercely divided on the issue of climate change with some senior figures questioning whether global warming is man made.

"If the government does as they have said they will, and re-introduces the bill with the amendments agreed to by the coalition in late November, then I will vote for it," he said.

Significantly, another unnamed Liberal Senator confirmed to AAP that they too planned to vote with the government, while two opposition Senators, Judith Troeth and Sue Boyce, broke ranks and voted for the bill last year.

The defections will stir hopes that the government could yet pass the bill, which will result in the introduction of a national cap-and-trade scheme covering around 75 per cent of Australia's emissions. If the bill is defeated again the government will be forced to either call an early election or delay the legislation until after the scheduled election this autumn.

In related news, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong today confirmed Australia would stick with its proposed emission target for 2020 as part of the Copenhagen Accord, pledging to cut emissions by five per cent by 2020, while offering to raise the target to 25 per cent if a robust international climate change deal is agreed later this year.

She also expressed confidence that a meaningful global agreement could still be reached. "They are difficult negotiations and we have to keep pressing," she told reporters. "The Copenhagen Accord is capable of delivering a good environmental outcome, but we need to keep working with the nations who are signing up to it."