Carbon cloud … Tony Abbott and Julie Bishop. Photo: Glen McCurtayne

THE Coalition has distributed 34 pages of climate change ”talking points” to help its federal MPs step up their anti-tax campaign, including several assertions that are untrue or misleading, as debate begins on the controversial carbon pricing bills today.

The speaking notes, labelled ”Coalition in confidence – not for distribution in this form”, declare the next election ”will be a referendum on the carbon tax” and set out the Coalition’s case that the tax will hurt families and businesses and is out of step with international climate action.

But they also assert the government’s plan would mean ”$3.5 billion a year in taxpayer dollars is going to pay potentially dodgy and corrupt foreign companies to do things like plant trees in other countries, not in Australia” when in fact Labor proposes to allow polluting businesses to buy some carbon permits offshore, but does not propose any taxpayer-funded overseas carbon permit purchases.

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The Business Council of Australia says that without access to international permits, cutting emissions will be much more expensive for companies and for the nation.

It has urged the Coalition to drop its ban on foreign permits.

After receiving 300 submissions on the draft bills, the government has made only minor technical changes to its 18 bills, which it insists must be passed by Christmas.

Labor is demanding that the lower house debate continue while a three-week select committee inquiry is under way, but the Coalition says debate should wait until the committee has reported.

The Coalition’s speaking notes also say job losses are ”the inevitable consequence of the tax”, citing an Access Economics report that showed ”the potential loss of 126,000 regional jobs under an earlier version of Labor’s scheme”.

But the report, prepared in May 2009 for the premiers, did not project any regional job ”losses”.

It found a carbon price aiming for a 5 per cent reduction in emissions by 2020 would involve an increase of 1.4 million jobs between 2008 and 2020.

Without any carbon price, it projected an additional 126,000 jobs could be created over the same 12 years.

According to the notes, Labor’s economic modelling of the impact of the tax on ”families, pensioners and businesses” used an estimated price of $20 rather than the actual price of $23 ”so from the very beginning, Julia Gillard’s claims about how much the carbon tax will cost have been flawed and deliberately under-estimated”.

But the Treasury modelling to estimate price impacts on families and businesses did use the $23 starting price.

Longer-term modelling of the macro-economic effects of the tax used a $20 price.

The Coalition is preparing tough tactics on the legislation – which appears to have the numbers to pass the Parliament – including denying a parliamentary voting ”pair” to Labor MPs.

But Labor is equally adamant it will get the bills through, doing a deal with the Greens to ”guillotine” or cut off debate in the Senate and scheduling another Senate sitting week to ensure sufficient time for a debate.

The Coalition’s notes say the proposed household compensation for most low- and middle-income families is ”a con” and claim the Coalition can reach the same 5 per cent emission reduction target in 2020 with ”no cost to families, no new taxes and no rise in electricity prices”.