http://www.skynews.com.au/national/article.aspx?id=652975&vId=
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has told parliament he'll abide by any plebiscite on a carbon tax.
He's put forward a private member's bill for a non-binding poll on Labor's planned tax to be conducted no later than the last Saturday in November.
Given that the official stance as posted on the Liberal Party website was that if the result didn't go the way Mr Abbott wanted, then it would be ignored, does this mean to say that Mr Abbott's promise is now binding even though a plebiscite is a non-binding poll?
I should point out at this point that Mr Abbott should remember during his time as both the Minister for Employment under it various guises and also the Manager of Government Business in the House of Representatives that when the Labour Party opposed Work Choices (which by the way the Liberal Party also lied about prior to the 2004 election: much the same way as he now accuses the Gillard Government of doing over the Carbon Tax), they didn't go to a plebiscite but fought the 2007 election, won Government and subsequently repealed it.
That's the way things can and should be done in a Westminster Parlianment. Legislation is tabled before the House, not wheeled before the people who's input could be ignored anyway.
Before we do have a plebiscite, I think we should have a plebiscite to decide if the people want a plebiscite; it would be non-binding of course.
No comments:
Post a Comment