Australian Senate Vetoes Cap-and-Tax

ClimateGate is taking an effect. Australia was all set to enact a draconian cap-and-tax scheme, but a change in the Senate opposition leadership resulted in the failure of the measure, and may result in the failure of the entire government:

Opponents of the cap-and-trade scheme used their numbers in the Senate after a climate change skeptics took control of the opposition leadership on Tuesday.

The scheme would have been the biggest outside Europe, covering 75 percent of Australian emissions and starting in July 2011. It would have effectively forced polluters to pay for their emissions, requiring them to purchase emission permits from a carbon market.

Senior opposition lawmaker and frontbencher Christopher Pyne said he expected a dissolution of both houses of parliament and an election early in the new year, ahead of polls due around late November.

"I think the election will be on March 6. I think the government will call a double dissolution election if the ETS (emissions trading scheme) is voted down this week," Pyne said.

Cap-and-Tax is pretty much dead in our Senate as well.