Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has put the emissions trading scheme (ETS) and its "great big new tax" in his back pocket, to be brought out after the election, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says.
Campaigning in the seat of Forde, south of Brisbane, Mr Abbott said delaying the ETS until at least 2013 was a ruse. "Mr Rudd is back-pedalling on his ETS.
He's trying to hide it, he's changed his tactic, but he hasn't changed his mind," Mr Abbott told reporters.
He said an ETS would mean a 25 per cent jump in electricity prices, supermarket price hikes of up to five per cent, 126,000 jobs lost in regional Australia, and the closure of 12 major coal mines. "That is just the beginning," he said.
"It will cascade through the economy, it will get bigger over time, and that will mean the economic burdens just grow.
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"The fact is if you want to avoid an ETS, if you want to escape the big new tax that Mr Rudd is planning for you, there's only one way to do it and that is to vote for the coalition at the next election."
