Western Australian senate election is repudiation, not validation, of Abbott's climate policy If the recent Western Australian half-senate election was a referendum on the carbon price, it was yet another failure for Tony Abbott. Australian prime minister Tony Abbott speaks at a press conference in Sydney. static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/3/18/1395115275318/6a4bef73-6201-48b0-8f15-4dd347d94f77-460x276.jpeg The Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has failed in his third so-called referendum on the carbon price. Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images http://www.theguardian.com/environment/southern-crossroads/2014/apr/09/tony-abbott-carbon-price-wester-australia-senate-election