MOSCOW, October 7 (RIA Novosti) - Voters for the Australian Green Party have raised concerns about the party's policies after it shot down Prime Minister Tony Abbott's bill to reintroduce fuel excise indexation that would help cut pollution, the Sydney Morning Herald said Tuesday.
The initiative was also opposed by the Palmer United Party (PUP), founded by mining magnate Clive Palmer, who the Greens have been helping in order to secure PUP's backing on other issues.
Abbott's plan would potentially bring $4.1 billion over a four-year span "in exchange for protection of the renewable energy target" and increase cost penalties for fossil fuel consumers, the paper said.
The Greens also stood by the mining tycoon's party when it sought to restart an investigation into the Queensland government's fraud, believed to be all about getting back at Prime Minister Campbell Newman.
The Sydney Morning Herald cited correspondence between the Greens' Queensland and PUP senators, which, it says, shows the two parties have been making settlements on the terms of the Queensland inquiry.
The Greens conditioned their support on PUP voting against the government's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment Bill, which would devolve environmental approval powers to state authorities.
"However, when the Greens backed a Coalition amendment to include the Bligh Labor government in its purview – a move that automatically denied the inquiry the support of either of the major parties – the attempt to establish the inquiry collapsed," the paper said, adding that some environmentalists were forced to pressure the Greens" leadership into a u-turn.
The Senate officially supported the Queensland inquiry on September 30 and will issue a report on it by March 27 of next year.
