Australia to follow NZ's carbon tax example

Australian PM Julia Gillard has welcomed Prime Minister John Key to the Australian Parliament with confirmation that the two countries will work more closely on emissions trading schemes. Photo / Getty Images

New Zealand is set to help Australia in its fraught bid to introduce a controversial carbon tax.

At a joint press conference with Prime Minister John Key this afternoon, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced her officials would work with their New Zealand counterparts to link the countries' emissions trading schemes.

New Zealand had provided a template for how an ETS could work successfully with business, she said.

"If the Kiwis had the guts to go and price carbon, why can't we? Well we can."

Ms Gillard has faced fierce opposition to her plans to introduce a carbon tax.

Her statement today came as opposition leader Tony Abbott introduced a private member's bill aimed at giving voters a say on the move.

Mr Key said New Zealand and Australia had to work together to tackle climate change.

A scheme allowing carbon credits to be traded across the Tasman "makes sense", he said.

"Our economies are very closely linked and if we can work together on this problem of climate change that's a good thing."

New Zealand's ETS had been implemented effectively and was running in line with its estimated cost of $150 per household, he said.

The scheme was originally introduced by the Labour Government in 2008 and was substantially ammended by National in 2009.

While Mr Key will today become the first New Zealand leader to address the Australian Parliament, the Australian media are more interested in the ailing state of the Labor Government.

Ms Gillard's Government continues to plummet in the polls - a recent Newspoll has the Labor Party at 31 per cent, behind the opposition Coalition on 46 per cent.

It's been one year since Gillard rolled Kevin Rudd and assumed leadership of the party, however her Government is now polling worse than just prior to the leadership coup.

While Julia Gillard's visit and address to Parliament in February dominated the news here, with many newspapers carrying editorials on the state of the trans-Tasman relations, John Key's visit is receiving scant mentions in the Australian media.

Mr Key will today become the eighth world leader to address the Federal Parliament.

He'll also meet with Ms Gillard and senior ministers, likely to include Treasurer Wayne Swan, Defence Minister Stephen Smith, Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, Attorney-General Robert McClelland and the ministers for trade, climate change, immigration, and innovation and science.

He will also meet opposition leader Tony Abbott.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports Ms Gillard will hoping Mr Key's visit will provide a boost for her Government, which is struggling to gain popular support for a carbon emission scheme.

The Australian reports Mr Key will be pressuring the Australia Government to ensure Kiwis living across the ditch receive the same benefits Australians living in New Zealand receive.

Political reporter for The Australian James Massola believes Mr Key's speech in Parliament will be more about flag waving than substance.

He told Newstalk ZB this morning Julia Gillard has made a good relationship with Mr Key one of the priorities of her leadership.

"There's about $15 billion worth of trade between our two countries each year and obviously we work closely in the region so that's what this is all about," he said.

Mr Massola said the nitty gritty of these trips is always worked out behind the scenes beforehand.