Dump carbon tax if Greens split is real

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says if the government has really split from the Greens then it should dump the carbon tax and its current immigration policy. Picture: Kym Smith Source: News Limited

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OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott says if Labor and the Greens have really broken up, the government should ditch the policies the minor party foisted on it.

That would mean dumping the carbon tax - or supporting the coalition's efforts to do so - and returning to Howard-era asylum seeker policies.

"They say it's all over but the product of this political alliance is still with us," he told John Laws on 2SM Radio today.

"By all means say we don't like each other any more.

"But if you're fair dinkum get rid of the carbon tax ... (and) return to the border protection policies that worked rather than the 'if you can get here you can stay here' policies which the Greens have foisted on this government."

The opposition leader dodged three questions about whether he'd rather deal with Julia Gillard or Kevin Rudd as Labor leader.

Both of them had strengths and weaknesses, Mr Abbott said.

"I don't really think it's my job giving public advice to the Labor Party when it comes to their own leadership," he said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Julia Gillard is doubtful the Greens will side with the coalition to vote against her jobs package in parliament.

The Greens say if the federal government doesn't fix the revenue holes in the mining tax, it won't support Ms Gillard's plan to axe research and development tax breaks for big companies.

The $1 billion savings measure is supposed to pay for the government's "game-changing" jobs and innovation package as well as deliver money to budget bottom line.

Greens leader Christine Milne, who severed the minor party's alliance with Labor this week, said the decision to block the R&D cuts showed "the difference between having an agreement with Labor and not having one".

Ms Gillard questioned whether the Greens really would vote against jobs and ending tax cuts for some of the richest companies in Australia, including resource firms.

She argued the Greens could only block the package if the opposition decided to vote against it in parliament.

"The Greens only matter if (Opposition Leader) Tony Abbott directs his team to come into parliament and vote against Australian jobs," Ms Gillard told Adelaide's 5AA Radio today.

"I know Mr Abbott and his team have been saying they will do that."

Often the "positioning and stalking around" legislation never materialised when it came to the vote in parliament, she added.

Environment Minister Tony Burke said the Greens had opposed every one of the government's attempts to make major environmental reform simply because it didn't match their desired outcome.

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'Greens deal fatally compromised Gillard'

• Opposition leader says Gillard government fatally compromised by the deal
• Abbott says he wouldn't have give Greens what they wanted
• Also said he didn't want to give the independents what they wanted
• Greens declare loss of faith in Labor
• Opinion: Parties still united against Abbott

PRIME Minister Julia Gillard's embrace of the Australian Greens was a fatal move that compromised her government from the beginning, says Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

The Greens have ended their alliance with the federal government after the party's leader Christine Milne accused Labor of walking away from the agreement that kept the minority government in power for more than two years.

"I think her government from the beginning has been fatally compromised," Mr Abbott told Fairfax radio.

"She embraced the Greens.

"It has turned out to be a fatal embrace."

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the deal Labor made with the Greens to form a minority government in 2010 was a fatal mistake. Picture: Colin Murty

Mr Abbott said he had not been prepared to make deals with the Greens or independents that were inconsistent with coalition principles following the 2010 election.

"I wasn't prepared to give the independents, I wasn't prepared to give the Greens what they wanted," Mr Abbott said.

"Julia Gillard was.

"I don't do these sorts of deals with people."

Senator Milne said by siding with the big miners, Labor had made it clear it no longer had the "courage or the will" to work with the Greens on a shared agenda for the national interest.

But the Greens will stand by its pledge to deliver confidence and supply to Labor until the next election so not to advance the interests of Mr Abbott.
 

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