Climategate: Australia Defeats Cap and Trade Plan

Since the new government took over in Australia, it seemed a sure bet to fall for the global warming hysteria.  That changed today, with a potential economy depressing initiative to establish a carbon trading system defeated in the Senate. From the story:

Australia’s Parliament defeated legislation to set up a greenhouse gas emissions trading system on Wednesday, throwing a central plank of the government’s plans to combat global warming into disarray. The Senate, where Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s government does not hold a majority, rejected his administration’s proposal for Australia to become one of the first countries to install a so-called cap-and-trade system to slash the amount of heat-trapping pollution that industries pump into the air. The 41-33 vote followed a tumultuous debate in which the conservative main opposition party at first agreed to support a version of the government’s bill, then dramatically dumped its leader and switched sides after bitter divisions erupted within the party.

That shift from the minority followed hard on the heels of Clmiategate. Methinks the scandal may have changed the paradigm. Reason could yet prevail.