Australia's carbon tax to be law by mid-November

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Australian federal Lower House Leader Anthony Albanese on Monday said the federal government's carbon tax legislation will be passed by the parliament by mid- November.

The package of carbon tax bills will be introduced into the lower House of Representatives on Tuesday, and be sent to a joint House and Senate inquiry, which will report on October 4.

The debate on the carbon tax bills will be held on Wednesday.

Albanese said a vote will be held in the lower house on October 12 with the draft laws then going to the Senate. The upper house will then sit an extra week starting on November 7 to debate the draft laws.

He said with the support from the Greens and the independent, the government has secured enough support in both houses for the legislation to pass.

"It is anticipated that the legislation therefore will be carried through the Senate at that stage in November," Albanese told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

"We are determined to make sure that in order to provide business with the certainty that it needs, it is important that this legislation be carried by both house of parliament this year. "

Meanwhile, federal Treasurer Wayne Swan stressed the importance of the introduction of the carbon tax package on Tuesday.

"It's going to be a big week with the introduction of the Clean Energy Future package into the parliament," Swan wrote in his economic note.

"I'm looking forward to the debate and also getting on with introducing this critical economic and environmental reform."

"The legislative package will give businesses and investors certainty about the carbon price, allowing them to plan new investments, including in the renewable and clean-energy technologies of the future."

Swan added that a price on carbon was the next step forward in Australia's economic reform.

The 24.5 U.S. dollars a tonne of carbon tax is expected to start from July 1, 2012. The tax is set to increase 2.5 percent each year for three years, and will switch to Emissions Trading Scheme in 2015.

Source: Xinhua