Carbon tax: Tony Abbott says Senate chaos 'situation normal', blames senators' inexperience for failed repeal bid

Updated

Thursday's Senate chaos over the carbon tax was "situation normal" according to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who has also blamed the inexperience of new senators for the repeal's defeat.

Mr Abbott, who on Thursday said the carbon tax should be gone by the end of the day, now says it will be repealed "as soon as possible", which is likely to be as early as next week.

The Government scheduled the Senate to sit this week, during the usual winter break, for the specific purpose of repealing the carbon tax.

But its plan was turned upside down when Clive Palmer reneged on a deal to kill off the tax because of a spat with the Government over Palmer United Party (PUP) amendments.

PUP plans to use the weekend to re-write the amendments, aimed at forcing power companies to pass on savings from the carbon tax being abolished.

The ABC understands the party will clarify the amendments so the penalties for not passing the savings on only apply to the electricity and gas sector.

Industry groups were concerned businesses such as caravan parks could face penalties under the legislation.

Earlier, the Prime Minister sought to downplay the drama.

"We have got situation normal, which is a Senate where the Government does not have a majority in its own right."

He suggested the dispute over PUP's amendments was due to the new senators' inexperience.

"This is the kind of thing that you could expect with a new Senate, with people coming in who don't have a lot of parliamentary experience," he said in Sydney.

PUP Senator Jacqui Lambie has blamed the Government's leader in the Senate, Eric Abetz, warning that the crossbench will make him pay for any "silly games".

Senator Lambie says she asked Mr Abbott to sack Senator Abetz immediately.

"I think they're disgraceful ... they need to put someone up there who has communication skills and is not prepared to try and trick you because that is not the way forward," she said.

"We try to give them a little bit of trust and they have blown it out of the water. So I guess she's open slather."

Senator Lambie told Channel Ten on Thursday night the Palmer United Party would not tolerate game playing.

"If you want to come into the kennel with the PUPs, be prepared to be chewed up and spat back out. Stop these silly games."

Mr Abbott is confident the tax will be scrapped next week, when both the House of Representatives and Senate sits, because Mr Palmer is still committed to repealing it.

"Once everyone huffs and puffs we'll get the carbon tax repealed and the mining tax repealed," he told Macquarie Radio.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has accused the Government of being both "too arrogant" to negotiate with the crossbench but also so "desperate" they were willing to cave into whatever PUP demanded.

"It was one of those desperate Dutch auctions," Mr Shorten told RN.

"They were so desperate to announce a win yesterday [Thursday], they were agreeing to anything Clive Palmer said," he said.

Topics: federal-government, federal-parliament, political-parties, abbott-tony, clive-palmer, government-and-politics, australia

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