Federal Greens Leader Bob Brown says he agrees with resources giant Rio Tinto that local industries trading in overseas markets should not be unfairly disadvantaged by a price on carbon emissions.
Senator Brown says an independent arbiter should decide on compensation levels, but companies should not be compensated for "theoretical losses".
"Rio Tinto want real-world accounting for trade-exposed industries in the upcoming program for finding a carbon price for Australia.Look I agree with Rio Tinto," he told reporters in Sydney.
He was speaking after Rio Tinto's Australian managing director David Peever said in an article that trade-exposed companies had a legitimate right to insist on a level playing field.
"I think that trade-exposed industries - if they can show that they are at a loss - ought to have that looked at by future governments," Mr Brown said.
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"What we don't want to see is a program that allows theoretical loss to be compensated. Real loss: yes," he said.
In the article published in The Australian newspaper, Mr Peever called for "real world" modelling, saying a fixed carbon price would hurt businesses in a downturn.
Mr Peever believes Prime Minister Julia Gillard should offer more generous compensation and industry protection for business than a scheme proposed by former prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2009.
Meanwhile, Senator Brown said NSW Opposition leader Barry O'Farrell, who is campaigning against the federal Labor government's carbon emissions tax in the state election, should reject the federal opposition's policy on the issue.
"It is much costlier than any of Prime Minister Gillard's options and leaves no money to compensate households," Senator Brown said.
Mr O'Farrell has told NSW voters the carbon tax will increase the average family's power bill by about $500 a year.
Senator Brown said economists agree federal opposition leader Tony Abbott's strategy to tackle climate change "is the most expensive way to go".
"Their tax is no different in that it's an indirect tax on households while the big polluters get off scot-free," he said.
"If you're an average voter in NSW, the O'Farrell-Abbott prescription is going to hit you far harder than anything the Gillard government's climate change committee is going to come up with," he said.
