Isra-Mart srl: Govt puts out draft of carbon legislation

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The Government has issued for public comment draft legislation for its proposed carbon tax, but the Opposition says Prime Minister Julia Gillard does not want to talk to Australians about it.

Climate Change Minister Greg Combet issued the legislation yesterday saying the public and interest groups had a month to review it and submit opinions about Labor's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The minister said he hoped to introduce the legislation to Parliament in September and have it passed before the end of the year.

He said of the suite of 14 Bills that can be viewed on the Climate Change Department's website, the central Bill was the Clean Energy Bill 2011.

It will bring in a three-year fixed carbon price from July next year before moving to an emissions trading scheme.

''This Bill establishes the carbon pricing mechanism and deals with assistance being provided to support jobs and competitiveness in our economy as well as maintain our energy security,'' Mr Combet said.

The Government is still drafting legislation detailing household compensation from the new scheme, but from next week will begin direct mailing information brochures about the carbon tax to all Australian homes.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said that despite Ms Gillard's promise to wear out her shoe leather explaining the new tax to Australians, she had in fact kept a low profile this week.

''Twice in the last 24 hours I've been at community forums to talk about the tax and while my colleagues and I are still out and about arguing the case in the community, the Prime Minister is hiding in her office, refusing to talk to the Australian people,'' he said.

''Not only did she not wear out the shoe leather, she didn't even wear the shoes in. At the first sign of a blister she's back in her office hiding from the public because she knows that the more she talks about this tax the less people like it.''

The Bills also seek to set up the Clean Energy Regulator to administer the carbon price and the Climate Change Authority that will advise the Government on future policy directions.

Assistance measures for emissions-intensive and trade-exposed industries, as well as the carbon farming initiative, are also covered in the Bills.

The Australian Conservation Foundation's Tony Mohr described the draft legislation as historic.

''ACF will be watching this legislation like a hawk as it goes through Parliament to make sure the environmentally important elements of the scheme are preserved,'' he said.

''We fully expect the big polluters to make a last ditch attempt to water down the environmental effectiveness of the legislation. Australia's elected representatives must stand firm against vested interests.''

More legislation will be introduced next year dealing with the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.