Labor playing games on carbon: Cormann

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says the coalition is committed to scrapping the carbon tax. Source: AAP

FINANCE Minister Mathias Cormann says the coalition will do "whatever we need to do" to scrap the carbon tax, but stopped short of threatening a double dissolution election if Labor blocks its repeal legislation.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten on Friday announced Labor would back a bill to scrap the carbon tax, but only if the government supported amendments to introduce an emissions trading scheme in its place.

But Senator Cormann dismissed the offer as Labor "playing games".

"Whether it is a fixed price carbon tax or floating price carbon tax, our commitment is crystal clear, the carbon tax must go," he told Sky News on Saturday morning.

"Bill Shorten and the Labor Party are in denial about the election result. The Australian people overwhelmingly voted to get rid of the carbon tax. The Labor Party's thumbing their nose at the Australian people."

Asked if the government would call a double dissolution election if Labor blocked its carbon tax repeal laws, Senator Cormann would only say: "We will do whatever we need to do to deliver on our commitment to scrap the carbon tax".

"Obviously our preference is for the parliament to respect our mandate, to respect the will of the Australian people, to let the government get on with what we promised we would do during the election," he said.

But Labor's Matt Thistlethwaite said Labor had a long-standing policy supporting an emissions trading scheme.

"We're not going to roll over for cynical political means," he told Sky News.

"We need a policy that will be able to cap emissions, guarantee that we'll be able to reduce emissions in time in a cheap and cost effective manner.

"The government should seriously consider ... looking at the amendments that Labor will put forward, they will be sensible amendments that will work in the long term."

Deputy federal Labor leader Tanya Plibersek also defended her party's insistence on an emissions trading scheme, saying the Abbott government's push to scrap the carbon tax "defies science".

"The vast majority of scientists internationally say that climate change is happening, that it's caused by carbon pollution," Ms Plibersek told reporters on the sidelines of the West Australian Labor party conference in Perth.

"We say that we must act and indeed Tony Abbott says that we must act, but he's proposing a system where you take taxpayer dollars and give them to big polluters.

"We're proposing a system where you take taxpayer dollars from big polluters and use that in helping ordinary Australia cope with climate change.

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