The tax was passed through the House of Representatives this morning by 74 votes to 72.

The AMWU recently criticised a business coalition called ‘Manufacturing Australia’ for its last-ditch effort to “hold back the tide”.

AMWU national secretary Dave Oliver said Australia’s manufacturing industry should be “trying to catch the next wave of jobs”.

“The clean technology sector is worth $6 trillion worldwide, and Australian industry needs to focus on winning our share of those jobs,” he said.

“Last week at the jobs forum we had all the major players from business in the room with the government and other industry experts. They didn’t raise the carbon tax. They didn’t raise industrial relations reform. They certainly didn’t raise the ALP leadership. In fact, there was a sense that we could move forward with an agenda for the industry.”

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