The Turnbull government is due to hold a crunch party room meeting to discuss climate change and energy policy, following the release of the Finkel review of the electricity sector last Friday.
The meeting, which was due to begin at 4.15pm, is rare. The last one was held under Tony Abbott and focused on a similarly fractious issue - the Coalition's policy on same-sex marriage.
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Climate policy debate intensifies
Politicians from all sides have been very willing to share their thoughts on climate policy and the government's plan for a clean energy target.
At least a dozen MPs were expected to address Tuesday's special meeting about how the government should respond to the Finkel review, and whether to set a so-called clean energy target, one of the key recommendations of the review.
Underscoring the political sensitivity of climate policy, a government spokesman said the afternoon discussion was not a "special" meeting, but rather a continuation of a regular meeting - after a five-hour break - that is held every sitting week.
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Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg addressed the early meeting and gave a Powerpoint slideshow for about 30 minutes.
The presentation, according to an MP in the room, was "very factual. It focused on what the modelling showed, what the impact was on electricity prices, and what the cost of doing nothing is".
"Lots of people said they wanted to speak," that MP said. "The meeting [on Tuesday afternoon] could go for a very long time."
Another MP said he was annoyed the meeting had been cut short so the Prime Minister could attend an event with women's football team The Matildas.Â
"I would have thought party room was one of the more important meetings," that MP said.
The party room meeting over climate policy will not finalise the Coalition's policy position but rather, set parameters for Mr Frydenberg as he develops a response by the end of July to the Finkel review.
In addition to the meetings of MPs, Chief Scientist Alan Finkel also spoke to about a dozen Coalition MPs from the backbench environment and energy committee for an hour-and-a-half to answer questions about his review.
Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, who helped lead the campaign against Labor's carbon tax, said business-as-usual wasn't working and Australia needed to abide by its international obligations, which are to reduce emissions by 26-28 per cent against 2005 levels by 2030.Â
Mr Joyce later criticised Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, predicting the Labor leader would say no to whatever compromise policy position the government proposed.
" We are all moving to make sure we try and land this, even the National party. We are doing our bit, the Labor party should do their bit," he said.
A clean energy target would drive investment in renewable energy but also ensure coal remains part of Australia's energy mix, albeit a declining part, through to 2030.
The CET would provide incentives for generators to produce electricity below a certain emissions intensity baseline. The Finkel review modelled a scenario in which low emissions would be defined as below 0.6 tonnes of pollution per megawatt hour.
Generators would receive certificates for the proportion of electricity produced below that emissions level, which could then be traded.Â
Labor has indicated it will likely not support a government-proposed CET that sets the baseline too high, such as at or above 0.7 tonnes per megawatt hour, which would mean some forms of coal could earn partial certificates.
Some Coalition MPs have already signalled they a baseline at or above 0.7 to ensure some portion of a certificate could be issued for power generated by high emissions, low-intensity, coal power stations, for example.
Mr Shorten, in question time, attacked  the government over rising power prices and pressed the Coalition to work with them on climate policy.
Mr Turnbull fired back that Australia needed to change the design of its energy system "to give Australians the affordability, the security that they need and [to] meet emissions reduction targets. Labor's addiction to ideology and politics has brought us to the situation where prices are too high."
Mr Abbott has labelled the CET a "magic pudding" and other MPs have questioned whether the CET would disadvantage coal too much.