After more than a year of political wrangling, the Australian government has given up hope of introducing a market-based cap-and-trade scheme for carbon dioxide any time soon. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said he would shelve plans to introduce the climate legislation until after the end of 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol expires. He blamed political opposition and “slow progress” in global action on climate change.

“This was the prime minister who said that [climate change] was the greatest moral challenge of our time and now he doesn’t have a policy to deal with it,” opposition leader Tony Abbott told reporters [Wall Street Journal].

Rudd’s legislation, which aimed to cut Australia’s emissions by at least 5% from 2000 levels by 2020, had twice been defeated in the Senate – most recently in December. Though he diluted the bill significantly from its initial introduction in March 2009, it has been subject to fierce and continual criticism from an opposition mindful of its effect on the cost of coal and other energy-intensive imports.

It was almost certain to be voted down again if debated later this year – even the opposition Green party were against the scheme, because of its concessions to energy-intensive industries. The Green party would prefer a straight carbon tax.

The announcement follows yesterday’s delay of Senate climate legislation in the United States, and France’s decision in March not to go ahead with a national tax on carbon dioxide emissions (BBC).

The New York Times notes that national elections are expected in Australia later this year, and some analysts feel the government’s decision was tactical; with climate change a less important issue than education and health care reform. The decision to suspend the scheme also saves billions of dollars from the federal budget.

“It sounds like a decision has been made that they don’t need this noise in the lead in to an election campaign,” says Michael Wesley, the executive director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy (NYT). “I think the government has decided that they’re not going to fight this issue until the day after the election.”