Prime Minister Julia Gillard has pushed the case for a carbon tax while avoiding the contentious issues of same-sex marriage and asylum seekers at the Victorian Labor Party conference.
Victoria's Labor Party is facing off with Ms Gillard by putting forward motions supporting gay marriage and same-sex adoption, and condemning her deal with Malaysia over asylum seekers at its annual conference on Saturday.
Ms Gillard, who does not support gay marriage, made no mention of those issues in her keynote speech.
Instead she continued to sell the federal government's May budget and press the case for putting a price on carbon.
In her first address as prime minister to a Labor party conference in her home state, Ms Gillard said Labor was determined to win the fight to price carbon.
"We are fighting to price carbon to tackle climate change and to build a clean energy economy which is prepared and strong," she said.
She criticised Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's stance on the climate change debate.
"We don't have time for politicians and shock jocks who deny the scientific conclusions of NASA and the CSIRO," she said.
"We don't have time for made-up figures and shameless fear mongering.
"We don't have time to waste on a debate that lacks fact and reason.
"Our national efforts and energies must be focused...
"We are a nation determined to do our bit to tackle climate change and urgently need to make a start to build the clean energy economy of the future."
Ms Gillard addressed the conference before motions on gay marriage, same-sex adoption and asylum seekers were put to delegates.
