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"December 02, 2009 , 9:24 AM by Prue Bentley In the last 24 hours, Tony Abbott has come under fire for his comments on the veracity of climate change. The media has seized on his claim to a small local Victorian paper that "climate change is crap". In the context of his leadership this is curious as Mr Abbott seems to have spun 180 degrees in his estimation of human influenced climate change in as little as a few hours / votes. The paper in question happened to be the Pyrenees Advocate and the Editor of the paper, Craig Wilson, was there when those words were uttered."

"There is little doubt that Kevin Rudd's plan to bring forward international linking and trading of emission permits is a smart political move. It removes a key option for Tony Abbott. Now Mr Abbott is forced to apply the most extreme interpretation of his promise to remove the carbon tax: remove all pricing mechanisms. Until now, many commentators have pointed to the vague wording of his promise to argue that bringing forward the internationally linked trading scheme would be an obvious path for him after winning the election."

"Tony Abbott is facing growing discontent among his colleagues about his $3.2 billion Direct Action plan to combat climate change, a policy once described by Malcolm Turnbull as rubbish. Liberal MPs Mal Washer and Dennis Jensen say the Coalition should review or consider abandoning parts of the policy in the light of ''dire economic circumstances''."

"Can "direct action" cut Australia's carbon emissions for the price Tony Abbott says it can? Climate change minister Mark Butler says not. Last week he welcomed "new independent modelling", which he said showed the Coalition's policy would "cost billions of dollars more than Tony Abbott claims and has no chance of meeting Australia's emissions reduction target"."

"Abbott's latest remarks on carbon pricing betray the fact that his views on climate change are inspired from the depths of the climate denier blogosphere"

"While the Coalition didn't release a 2013 election policy document explaining how they'd reduce emissions, they did release a document outlining how they'd axe the tax. The document is entitled The Coalition's Policy to Deliver Lower Prices by Scrapping the Carbon Tax. Within it is an excellent idea well worth supporting, in that it will highlight just how 'brilliant' the Abbott government's cost of living 'relief' will be when it axes the carbon tax. "

"Australia's carbon pricing mechanism has been vilified by the Federal Opposition and certain members of the business community, but it is a key part of Australia's response to climate change. So one year on, where does it stand? Far from being "absolutely catastrophic" and a "wrecking ball" to the economy as initially predicted by Tony Abbott, the Australian economy is still ticking over much as it was. Anyone with genuine concerns on the impacts of the carbon price should be comforted by experience to date, and those engaging in fear mongering will need to find a new story."