Before her election last August, Julia Gillard, Australia's prime minister, had promised "no carbon tax under the government I lead". So she had some explaining to do when announcing, on February 24th, plans for what looks rather like a tax: a mandatory carbon price. Carbon policy is becoming the "third rail" of Australian politics. An earlier failure by the ruling Labor Party to set a price led to Ms Gillard's coup against her predecessor as party leader, Kevin Rudd. This time around, the party's latest carbon pledge will test Ms Gillard's own political survival.
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