Australia's opposition¹ Liberal Party has elected a new leader, amid a searing row over the government's carbon trading laws.

澳大利亚在野党自由党选出一位新领袖，试图与政府的二氧化碳排放法案达成一致意见。

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The emissions scheme row has split the Liberal Party down the middle

Tony Abbott was chosen to replace Malcolm Turnbull at a Canberra meeting.

Mr Turnbull had backed Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's emissions trading scheme (ETS), but Mr Abbott opposes it.

The government needs the support of the Liberals to pass the legislation in the Senate. The Liberal revolt（叛乱，反抗） throws Mr Rudd's plans into turmoil（骚动，混）.

Mr Rudd had wanted the legislation to pass the Senate - where his party does not have a majority - by the start of the Copenhagen climate change summit next week.

Last week he secured Mr Turnbull's support for the bill, prompting the angry reaction from some Liberal lawmakers that triggered the leadership challenge.

Climate centrepiece

Mr Abbott won the final vote against Mr Turnbull by 42 votes to 41. A third challenger, Joe Hockey, was eliminated in first-round voting.

Minutes after his victory, Mr Abbott told a news conference that he would fight the ETS bill.

"We will seek to refer the legislation to [a Senate] committee for further scrutiny³. If we cannot get the support for that course of action we will oppose the legislation in the Senate this week," he said.

"I think on something of this magnitude（大小，重要）, it is much more important to get it right than to rush it," he added.

The government's immediate⁴ hopes of passing the bill now rest on the possibility of some opposition lawmakers rebelling and voting with it.

But if the Senate fails to back the scheme - as now looks likely - Mr Rudd could call a snap（立刻，马上） election, correspondents say.

Opinion polls suggest he would win such an election and could then pass his climate legislation in a joint⁵ sitting of parliament.

But, says the BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney, the issue is complicated by the onset⁶（开始，攻击） of the southern summer, when political hostilities⁷ tend to be put on hold.

The ETS, aimed at reducing Australia's carbon footprint, is the centrepiece（中心装饰品） of the government's environmental strategy.

Mr Rudd wants to cut Australia's carbon emissions by up to 25% from 2000 levels by 2020.

But some opposition politicians question the scientific case for global warming and the energy lobby says the move would damage Australia's economy.

Australia has the highest per capita（人） carbon emissions among developed nations and coal is its biggest export.