Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says he has never supported a carbon tax, as debate about a climate policy review process threatens new disunity and political strife within the Coalition.
Backbench MPs have publicly questioned the government's timing and tactics after a formal review of the Direct Action policies was announced by Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg this week, with backbenchers including Cory Bernardi and Craig Kelly warning against any move towards a carbon tax or similar scheme.
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Carbon review divides government
Cory Bernardi gives voice to government divisions over a proposed carbon intensity trading scheme in the electricity sector. Courtesy ABC News 24
The review will include consideration of whether an emissions intensity scheme for electricity generators, a form of carbon pricing, was appropriate for Australia.
Speaking in Sydney on Tuesday, Mr Turnbull said the planned 2017 process had been expected for years and was part of a suite of policies taken to the past three elections.
"In terms of carbon policy, I have never supported a carbon tax," Mr Turnbull said.
In what could be seen as a veiled reference to former prime minister Tony Abbott, Mr Turnbull said some Coalition MPs had supported a carbon price.
"There are many distinguished members of the Coalition parties who have supported a carbon tax over the past. I've never done," he said.
Mr Turnbull also defended the review, saying it was supported by his predecessors.
"The review of our climate policies, which will be undertaken next year, has been part of the Coalition's policy for many years, long before I was Prime Minister," he said.
"This is absolutely part of our policy. It's part of the policy we took to the election in 2013 and 2016 and, indeed, we took to the election in 2010.
"This is business as usual."
In 2010, a year after he lost the Liberal leadership over support for Kevin Rudd's emissions trading scheme, Mr Turnbull said: "We have to put a price on carbon. We can do it via a carbon tax if you like."
The same year he said Australia "cannot cost-effectively achieve a substantial cut in emissions without putting a price on carbon".
In an interview with the ABC in 2011, Mr Turnbull said a direct action policy for long-term cuts to carbon emissions would become "a very expensive charge on the budget".
In February 2010, Mr Turnbull crossed the floor to vote in support of Labor's emissions trading scheme.
Mr Turnbull sat with government MPs for the second reading vote to pass the legislation before the Coalition opposition declined to call for a division on the final vote, depriving him a further chance to support Labor.
Mr Turnbull has previously highlighted Mr Abbott's shift on a carbon pricing mechanism.
Before he was opposition leader, Mr Abbott supported an emissions trading scheme and then "changed his position and resigned from the shadow cabinet and challenged me for the leadership and was successful," Mr Turnbull said.
Mr Turnbull wouldn't be drawn on reports former prime minister Tony Abbott's signature Green Army program would be axed in this month's mid-year budget update, saying only the government faced a "a very tight budgetary environment".
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