Australia passes landmark carbon tax laws | Reuters

Australia's parliament passed laws that impose a price on carbon emissions on Tuesday in one of the biggest economic reforms in a decade, giving new impetus to December's global climate talks in South Africa.

The laws will force Australia's top 500 polluting companies to pay a price on carbon emissions from July 2012, in a major policy victory for embattled Prime Minister Julia Gillard, whose popularity has plunged over the scheme.

The final vote in the Senate comes after five years of heated debate, and endorses the central plank of the government's commitment to cut carbon emissions by 5 percent of year 2000 levels by 2020.