Last Thursday, Australia's senate voted 39 to 32 to repeal the carbon tax, a measure established under the previous Labor government that imposed a levy on the country’s biggest polluters. Prime Minister Tony Abbott had long opposed the tax, arguing that it cost jobs and caused energy prices to rise, and had made its repeal part of his election campaign. While he considered Thursday’s vote to be “great news for Australian families,” Greens leader Christine Milne found the repeal “appalling.” She accused the Coalition, Australia’s alliance of center-right parties, of wanting to shift the burden of climate change onto the community and away from the nation’s biggest polluters. The dismantling of the carbon tax leaves Australia with no legislated policy to achieve its commitment to a 5% emission reduction by 2020. For the full story, see http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28339663 and http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/17/australia-kills-off-carbon-tax.