Australia PM says no intention to call snap poll

A woman holds a sign during a protest on climate change in central Sydney August 13, 2009. Australia's government, fighting to save its carbon trading scheme from defeat, challenged parliamentary rivals on Thursday to drop their opposition, warning of ''a day of reckoning'' on climate change.

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on Friday he had no intention of calling a snap election, despite parliament's rejection of his government's plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

In the biggest setback to Rudd's agenda since his 2007 election victory, the upper house Senate on Thursday rejected Rudd's emissions scheme after rival conservative, green and independent lawmakers joined forces to oppose it.

If the Senate blocks or rejects the legislation a second time, after an interval of three months, it would hand Rudd a trigger for an early poll dominated by climate change.

"I have not the slightest intention of going to an early poll. I don't think people like that. I think they want you to serve the term that you've been elected for," Rudd told local radio a day after the defeat.

Climate Minister Penny Wong said the government would bring the package back to parliament and try to push it through before a December U.N. meeting in Copenhagen, where world nations will try to hammer out a broad global climate pact.

But Rudd challenged his majority conservative opponents to propose firm amendments to the scheme which would open the door to a negotiated outcome and passage of the laws, underpinning what would be the world's broadest emissions trade scheme.

"We just want to get on with the job, because the business community wants certainty for the future and they want us to finish the business," he said.

Surveys show Kevin Rudd well ahead in opinion polls and that most Australians favor action to combat climate warming. Elections are due in late 2010.

Rudd has promised emissions cuts of 5-25 percent on 2000 levels by 2020, with the higher end dependent on a global agreement to replace the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Mark Bendeich)