Australian Senate delays carbon trade vote

* Parliament delays carbon trading vote

* Chances of early election before December fade (Updates with government quotes, election background)

CANBERRA, June 25 (Reuters) - Australia's upper house Senate on Thursday formally delayed a vote on a carbon-emissions trading scheme until August, ending government hopes of passing the bills this parliamentary session.

The delay by the Senate, which is ultimately expected to defeat the legislation when it comes to a vote, continues uncertainty for major greenhouse-gas polluters and for the nation's emerging carbon-trading industry, which has stalled.

It also confuses Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's options for an early election and makes it unlikely he will have a trigger for an early poll before December.

The government wants carbon trading to cover 1,000 of Australia's biggest polluters and to start in July 2011, but the Senate will now vote on the package of 11 bills on August 13 in a delay which angered Climate Change Minister Penny Wong.

"The government has been consistent in its determination to have this bill discussed and debated this week," Wong told parliament.

"We have been frustrated at every opportunity by the procedural tactics, delaying tactics and irresponsibility of the opposition," she said.

The carbon trade scheme is the centre-left government's key strategy to curb carbon emissions and fight global warming, but the plan in its current form is set to be rejected by the Senate, where the government is seven votes short of a majority.

The conservative opposition wants to delay a final decision on the carbon trade scheme until after global climate talks in Copenhagen in December, and until U.S. actions to fight climate change are known.

If laws are rejected twice or delayed twice by the Senate, with an interval of three months between votes, the government can call an early double-dissolution election to clear the political deadlock.

Thursday's vote clouds Rudd's options, as the delay until August does not meet the three-month period between votes. To qualify as an election trigger, the legislation would need to be rejected or delayed a second time from late October or November.

Rudd has said he prefers to serve a full three-year term, with normal elections due in late 2010. (Reporting by James Grubel; Editing by Michael Perry)