The Abbott government has finally removed the carbon tax, pushing it through the Senate yesterday with the support of the Palmer United Party (PUP).
It was third time lucky for the government as the carbon tax repeal bills had already been rejected twice by the Senate since last November but the legislation finally passed 39 votes to 32.
The Prime Minister, Tony Abbot, was quick to issue a statement announcing its removal.
"At the election, the Coalition made a pledge: to scrap the carbon tax, stop the boats, get the Budget under control and build the roads of the 21st century. All these commitments were designed to help families," he said.
"We are honouring our commitments to you and building a strong and prosperous economy for a safe and secure Australia.”
The next step in the government's plan is to get support for its Direct Action policy.
Both Labor and the Greens voted against the repeal of the carbon tax pointing out that Australia is the first country in the world to abolish a price on carbon. Labor Leader Bill Shorten has promised to take an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to the next election.
Greens Leader Christine Milne said Australia would become a global pariah as other countries marched towards pricing carbon and taking stronger action on climate change.
Labor senator Lisa Singh said that, with one vote, the nation had moved backwards and "Australia will today be a
laughing stock to the rest of the world".
As well as removing the carbon tax, the legislation also removed hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.
However, PUP senators said they will vote to retain the agency when legislation to remove it is considered later this year.
Labor, the Greens and the crossbench will also use their numbers to save the Climate Change Authority and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
Meanwhile, the Australian National University has released a study which states that Australia has cut carbon dioxide emissions from its electricity sector by as much as 17 million tonnes as a result of the carbon tax.
The study, which uses official market data to the end of June, found that two years of carbon pricing has been effective.
The drop in power demand attributed to the carbon price is between 2.5 and 4.2 terawatt-hours per year, or about 1.3 to 2.3 per cent of the National Electricity Market serving about 80 per cent of Australia’s population,