Australia carbon trade laws pass lower house
CANBERRA, June 4 (Reuters) - Australia's controversial carbon emissions trading laws passed their first parliamentary hurdle on Thursday but the government still faces a near-impossible task to win approval for the scheme in the upper house Senate.
The scheme aims to cover 75 percent of the nation's carbon emissions from 1,000 of the biggest polluters from June 2011, with companies needing a permit for every tonne of carbon pollution they produce.
Centre-left Prime Minister Kevin Rudd wants parliament to endorse the plan by the end of June this year, but the conservative opposition is promising to block a Senate vote until after global climate talks in Copenhagen in December.
The Senate next sits for a two-week session from June 15.
The government needs another seven votes to pass the laws, but the conservatives, five green senators and two swing vote independents are all opposed to the current scheme and have promised to vote it down later this month.
For more stories on Australian and New Zealand carbon trading issues, click on [ID:nSYD32519]. ($1=A$1.22) (Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Alex Richardson)
