The Federal Government's carbon tax plan will hurt families and drive a budget deficit, Opposition Climate Spokesman Greg Hunt says.
"The carbon tax will not work, will hurt families," Mr Hunt said in an address to the Lowy Institute in Sydney on Monday.
He added the tax would lead to the leakage of local manufacturing to countries with higher emissions profiles.
The government's modelling indicates that by 2020, Australia will be spending around $3.5 billion on nearly 100 million tonnes of international permits, the bulk of which will be paid overseas, he said.
"This is creating a permanent structural deficit for this country," he said.
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No one else in the world, including the biggest emissions sources of China, India and the US, is about to adopt a carbon tax and the EU system is not nearly as punitive as the government's scheme, he said.
"The Australian carbon tax will be 18 times larger than the EU's entire comparable system," he said, adding they are as similar as "a bowling ball to a pea".
A carbon tax scheme "has been rejected by the world and will be rejected by the world for good reason," he added.
The Coalition's incentive-based Direct Action climate policy will reduce emissions without any cost to families, Mr Hunt said.
"People respond better to carrots than sticks, people respond better to incentives (rather) than punishment," he said.
