Malcolm Turnbull scrambles to back away from any prospect of a carbon tax - or ETS – under Coalition

It seems federal parliament's backbenches
are now calling the shots in Canberra.

Any prospect of an emissions trading scheme or carbon tax under the Coalition has been killed, buried and cremated - again.

Under the threat of revolt on his backbench, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday spelt out repeatedly that his government would not put a price on carbon in any form before the next election.

Two days after Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg put consideration of an emissions intensity scheme on the table, Mr Turnbull said such a scheme had never been part of the Coalition review of its climate policies.

"The position is very clear, it is absolutely clear, this review is business as usual ... The one thing I want to be very clear about, we are not going to take any steps that will increase the already too high cost of energy for Australian families and businesses," Mr Turnbull said.

Read the latest from the Melbourne Age - story “Malcolm Turnbull scrambles to back away from any prospect of a carbon tax - or ETS – under Coalition.”

(Mr Turnbull, it seems is oblivious that we now live in a world that demands we consume less and so use significantly reduced amounts of energy – this is a different world than that imagined by the PM and his Coalition cohort. Rather than pursuing, almost religiously, a national agenda of jobs and growth – both equate with the voracious consumption of energy, Australia’s leaders should be working together to create a country that will function well provide broad contentment in what will most certainly by a low-energy future – Robert McLean)