Just in case you were wondering whether the Bills to introduce the Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme were truly urgent — whether the looming Copenhagen summit made haste in dealing with this critical issue absolutely imperative, you should consult Hansard for last Thursday in the House of Representatives. At 9am, Greg Combet rose, re-introduced the panoply of Bills establishing the scheme, made his Second Reading Speeches, and debate was promptly adjourned.

And it will not return to the Senate until after November 13, conveniently three months after it was rejected there in August.

In its defence, the Government will plead that the Coalition is demanding time to develop and negotiate its amendments. As Mr Rudd and Senator Wong have noted so often, the Coalition have had over a year to finalise their position on climate change but have declined to do so for internal political reasons. The Coalition’s delaying has been, they say, a product of purely political considerations.

As has the Government’s own delay. For all its urgency, apparently the CPRS isn’t quite THAT urgent that it needs to be brought on for debate straight away.