I've just listened to the Business Statement, in which the government lays out its agenda in the House for the next week. The glaring absence? The Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference) Bill. It seems that the government does not have an agreement yet, and as a result, the bill is not a priority.
The government can delay a little bit, but it has other important business due out of select committee in the next few weeks, and the Parliamentary timetable will be quite pressed to accommodate it all. If it delays too long, it runs the risk of not being able to get it through before the election, which in turn means the significant risk that National will gut it or simply sit on their hands for another three years while "waiting for Australia" (or some similar excuse). And I don't think that's really a chance we want to take.
