Despite this division the Gillard Government still passed several key pieces of legislation, one such being the Clean Energy Act (2011). The carbon tax, like most of Gillard’s time in power, was considered to be controversial, especially as during the federal election, it was said that there would be no such tax under her government. Despite this, the tax ended up being introduced due to governmental agreements with the Greens and passed through parliament with the support of several independents. This tax was designed to help combat climate change, taxing carbon emissions and, thereby, hoping to significantly decrease Australia’s output of CO2 as Australia “will suffer the full effects of global warming arising from the emissions of other countries” (Parliament of Australia, 2011) even if it doesn’t produce to the same extent. Another key piece of legislation passed during Gillard’s first year in power, following trials in 2010, was the National Broadband Network.…