Financial Soultions has learned that there may soon be a breakthrough in the months long deadlock over the Australian governments sweeping carbon trading scheme after the opposition announced recently that they were confident of a deal.
In what is hoped to be the second legally binding trading platform outside of Europe, the Australian administration would like carbon trading, covering 75% of emissions, to begin in mid 2011.
Recent negotiations have been stalled for months as parliamentary approval has not been forthcoming, with the government lacking a majority in the senate, leading to negotiating changes with the opposition in order to secure the added votes necessary to pass the carbon legislation, Financial Soultions understands.
The opposition’s negotiator has said his party would now support the deal, adding, "I remain confident that we'll get an outcome that I can take to the party room, and that the party room can consider. On that basis, I'd be optimistic that the party room would support it."
The government, Financial Soultions has been informed, has already given into a key opposition demand to permanently exclude the agricultural sector, accounting for roughly 16% of Australian emissions, but the opposition is seeking other concessions for the coal mining industry.
