Business carbon tax advice rejected

The federal Government has rejected advice from business that it should delay its carbon plan, to allow companies to prepare for the scheme.

Twenty-four companies and 12 industry groups say they are concerned about when the carbon scheme will begin.

But Treasurer Wayne Swan says it's not the message he has been hearing.

"What the business community says to me is that they want certainty they need to know what the carbon price is so they can make the investment to drive the clean energy future we want," Mr Swan said.

The group's submission to the government warns that some companies may need more time to prepare, depending on the scheme's design, and they won't know how long they'll need until they see the details.

The Opposition wants the details to be spelled out at a tax summit.

The government is under political pressure after a Newspoll out this week showed Labor's primary vote support crashing to a record low of 30 per cent.

The plunge came after Prime Minister Julia Gillard broke an election promise to announce a carbon tax would begin in July 2012.

Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke has defended the government's strategy of announcing the policy without providing more details of the scheme.

"I don't think providing the Australian people with information as this proposal has developed is a bad thing," he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

"As information is ready to be made available, it gets made available. I think that's the right thing to do."

The government's newly established Climate Commission has welcomed Prof Garnaut's review, which linked extreme weather with global warming.

"Weather conditions that were present during the extreme events of Victoria's Black Saturday are consistent with conditions that are more likely under global warming," researcher Professor Will Steffen said.

The Climate Commission said there was a 90 per cent probability linking human-induced greenhouse gas emissions with global warming.