Is Carbon Tax Worth Fighting For?

JULIA Gillard has likened carbon pricing to "divisive" past reforms such as Mabo and the GST, predicting voters will ultimately accept the tax, seen as crucial to the future of her leadership and Labor's electoral fortunes.

Embarking on a two-week blitz to sell the tax, the Prime Minister declared that the carbon price will drive a transformation in the nation's economy and create tens of thousands of new green jobs over the next 20 years. She says the Clean Energy Future scheme is funding government assistance to families to ease cost-of-living pressures.

Expressing confidence in the "common sense of the Australian people", Ms Gillard asks voters to make their own decisions on the carbon tax now it’s in operation.

A scheme to impose a carbon price of $23 a tonne for greenhouse gas emissions came into effect yesterday. The tax will be paid by about 300 companies emitting more than 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. The scheme will convert to an emissions trading scheme with a floating price in 2015.

Labor backbenchers have blamed the carbon tax for the collapse in the party's support, and a failure to improve the government's fortunes now it has been introduced would spark a new round of leadership speculation.

Tony Abbott declared yesterday a "day of betrayal by Labor" with the introduction of the carbon tax, the mining tax and the abolition of the 30 per cent private health insurance rebate for high-income earners.

As protests against the carbon scheme attracted thousands of people in Sydney and Melbourne, Labor MPs including Wayne Swan and Trade Minister Craig Emerson fanned out across the country to sell the new policy and debunk Mr Abbott's claims.