Industry compensation to be repealed along with carbon tax, says Coalition

THE Coalition says it will repeal carbon tax compensation for industry  with the carbon tax but won't say how long it would keep household assistance.

carbon tax pollution

THE Coalition says carbon tax compensation for industry will be repealed with the carbon tax but it has refused to say how long household assistance will remain under an Abbott government.

Opposition climate spokesman Greg Hunt said taxpayers had already begun paying the carbon tax, which came into effect at midnight, declaring "everything has come up in price".

Mr Hunt said the Coalition would rescind the tax within six months, "with or without Labor", and industry compensation would also be axed.

"The industry compensation and the tax are linked," he said.

But he declined to say when an Abbott government would begin to pull apart the compensation scheme.

"We'll make a detailed statement after the next budget or before the next election if that occurs before the next budget, on appropriate tax cuts without a carbon tax," he said.

Rejecting suggestions the Coalition's anti-carbon tax rhetoric had been over-blown, Mr Hunt said today was "beginning of the rest of your life in terms of the carbon tax".

"(Australians) will have paid the tax already when they turned on the heating in the morning," he told Sky News' Australian Agenda.

"They would have paid the tax when they opened the fridge door. They'll be paying the tax to watch this television program unless they've got a pedal TV.

"It's absolutely clear that the tax is an electricity tax, and it starts to day but not finishes today."