New Australian opposition leader vows to block climate plan

Does this sound familiar? A head of state’s push for a climate change bill hits a big roadblock, preventing action before this month's international climate change summit in Copenhagen.

That has been the case for President Obama. Democratic cap-and-trade legislation is moving slowly in the Senate and several committees have yet to act.

And today, Australia’s opposition Liberal Party elected climate change skeptic Tony Abbott, who quickly vowed to block Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s emissions trading plan in that country’s Senate.

The Financial Times, reporting from Australia, said Abbott’s win “all but kills plans by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to have an emissions trading scheme passed into law ahead of the Copenhagen climate change summit.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Rudd government’s climate plan is probably stalled until February, and maybe longer.

Rudd, of the Labor Party, met with Obama at the White House yesterday and climate change was on the agenda.

He also met with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“When it comes to climate change, the clock’s ticking for us all when it comes to Copenhagen. And we’re working closely with our American friends to secure the best possible outcome for an important deal for the planet, for our economies, for jobs, for the environment,” Rudd said before their meeting.