Keen to avoid the Greens and minor parties dismantling its emissions trading scheme in the Senate, the Rudd Government has urged the Liberal Party to back its own rhetoric and support the legislation.
As the Opposition's climate change spokesman, Greg Hunt, accused Labor of pinching the Coalition's scheme, the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, appealed to the Liberals to be "responsible partners in the future economic direction of Australia".
"I think there's going to be a huge national spotlight trained on the Liberals," he said.
"Are you going to be responsible economic partners in this country's long-term economic future or are you just going to walk away and play opportunistic short-term politics?"
Mounting a media blitz to sell the scheme, the Government assured motorists who use LPG that they would be compensated for the increase in the price of the fuel.
For at least three years from 2010, petrol excise will be reduced to offset any petrol price increase that the emissions trading scheme causes.
There is no excise on LPG but the Climate Change Minister, Penny Wong, said yesterday the Government would consult the industry on how to avoid a price rise.
Revenue raised by the scheme will be used for fully compensating low and middle-income households. The Government will also assist people and businesses in replacing old, inefficient appliances.
But Mr Rudd said there would be no direct help for the so-called wealthy - those in households with a combined income of over $150,000 - or for businesses that face increased power bills and other costs.
"There are costs, they are real, I'm not going to pretend otherwise," he said.
The proposed scheme has been attacked by the Greens as too timid.
They want a much harsher approach and oppose the Government's idea of giving money to coal-fired power stations and other heavy polluters to help them adjust.
The scheme will require at least 10 bills and if the Coalition refuses to support it, the Government will be forced to rely on the five Greens, Family First's Steve Fielding and the independent Nick Xenophon.
One Government source said this scenario was "a nightmare" and the Liberals should back the scheme, especially as they believed it was theirs.
Mr Hunt said the only real differences were that the Coalition wanted a 2012 start date and believed the petrol excise offset should be permanent, not just guaranteed for three years.
"We support the idea of emissions trading, we proposed it," he said.
"Basically what they've done is they've dusted off the document that we had."
Senator Minchin said the Coalition would wait until December when the full details were completed, including the costs to households and business, emissions reduction targets and the carbon price.
But he said the legislation would be pushed off to Senate committees so all stakeholders could have a say.
The Coalition's "bottom line" was a 2012 start date and a low starting carbon price.
"This is going to be the most complex piece of legislation the Senate has ever seen," he said.
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff