Progress in carbon tax talks

Australian Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said he expects to conclude details of a plan for a carbon tax yesterday after making progress in talks with lawmakers. The Multiparty Climate Change Committee, which includes the minister and lawmakers, met in Canberra since Saturday to try to formulate the country's first carbon policy. Prime Minister Julia Gillard's government wants the levy to begin in July 2012 in preparation for a trading system that could be operating as early as 2015 in Australia, a country that burns coal to generate more than 80 per cent of its electricity. "There are issues we've made progress on, others that we've got a fair way to go but it's been approached in good faith and at the end of the day we'll make an announcement," Combet told Channel 10 television's Meet the Press programme yesterday, adding that he anticipates agreement "on all the elements".