THE cost of cutting carbon pollution would be borne by taxpayers under a Coalition plan to pay incentives to farmers and businesses that make cuts voluntarily.
The policy, released yesterday by Tony Abbott to rival the government's emissions trading scheme, would cost $3.2 billion over four years and more than $10 billion over the decade to 2020. It would be funded from budget cuts.
Cementing climate change as a central election issue, Mr Abbott said the impact on taxpayers would be less than the ETS, which would increase the cost of living by 1.1 per cent over a decade.
''Our policy will be simpler, cheaper and more effective than the government's because it relies on incentives, not penalties,'' he said.
The policy was slammed as a con by the government while the former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull derided it to colleagues as writing a blank cheque for polluters and having no long-term credibility.
Sources said Mr Turnbull reaffirmed his intention to cross the floor to support the government's scheme - which he helped amend - in the House of Representatives. The legislation was reintroduced last night.
The ETS makes polluters pay for each tonne of carbon they emit, under an overall cap. The billions in revenue raised would be returned to households and business as compensation and transitional assistance.
The Coalition policy has no cap on emissions and no price will be charged for carbon to discourage emissions. It relies on polluters willingly cutting emissions in return for handouts from an emissions reduction fund, worth $2.6 billion over four years.
The policy claims to reduce emissions by 5 per cent by 2020. But this figure is based on 1990 levels whereas the ETS promises to reduce them by 5 per cent of the slightly higher 2000 levels.
Mr Abbott said experts had predicted enough polluters would take action to ensure the target was met and he cited ''letters of comfort'' from industries willing to make cuts.
Of the 140 million tonnes of emissions the scheme aims to cut by 2020, 85 million tonnes would come from paying farmers to store carbon in soil.
The policy also promises to plant an extra 20 million trees, mainly in cities, and $1000 subsidies to put solar energy cells on an additional one million homes.
The party room supported the policy but Mr Turnbull told the meeting it would not cut emissions and was writing a ''blank cheque'' for polluting industries.
Without any penalty for forcing emissions down, they would continue to increase. This would cause more taxpayers' money to be spent on incentives so the 5 per cent target would be met, he was quoted as saying.
Kevin Rudd said Mr Abbott had changed his position on climate change more often than his ''undies'' and he said the policy would hurt taxpayers. ''The leader of the opposition has himself described climate change as absolute crap,'' the Prime Minister told Parliament.
''He has confirmed that view today … [this proposal] is nothing more than a climate con job. It does less, it costs more and it will mean higher taxes.''
Email a friend