Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday abandoned plans to legislate to limit greenhouse gas emissions to head off a revolt by conservative lawmakers.
Turnbull said that he could not get legislation through the Australian House of Representatives, where his conservative coalition holds only a single-seat majority.
He said that although most government lawmakers supported the target of reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent below 2005 levels, that support was not enough.
“Even with strong support in the party room, if a small number of people are not prepared to vote with the government on a measure, then it won’t get passed,” Turnbull told reporters.
Some lawmakers, including former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, say the government should be focusing on cutting electricity prices instead of cutting emissions.
Abbott deposed Turnbull as leader of the conservative Liberal Party in 2009 over differences in energy policy. Turnbull ousted Abbott as prime minister in 2015 in a leadership ballot of government lawmakers concerned by the government’s poor opinion polling.
Some government lawmakers want Australian Minister of Home Affairs Peter Dutton to challenge Turnbull’s leadership.
Turnbull said Dutton had told him he would not challenge for the party leadership.
“He has given me his absolute support,” Turnbull said of Dutton.
Dutton also watered down speculation of a challenge.
“In relation to media stories today [yesterday], just to make very clear, the Prime Minister has my support and I support the policies of the Government,” Dutton tweeted.
The government has trailed the opposition Labor Party in most opinion polls since the previous election in 2016. Australia is due to hold a general election early next year.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia