Direct Action is a "Mickey Mouse" scheme that falls short of the "real leadership" needed to tackle climate change, a former adviser to John Howard says.
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The president of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Geoff Cousins, has slammed the Abbott government's Direct Action policy, which was approved by the Senate last week, following a surprise deal between the Coalition and the Palmer United Party.
The program will set up a $2.55 billion Emissions Reduction Fund, designed to help Australia meet its emissions reduction target of 5 per cent below 2000 levels by 2020. Through the fund, the government will provide incentives to businesses, households and landowners to reduce their emissions.
Mr Cousins told ABC TV on Sunday that politicians "of all stripes" were failing Australians in the area of climate change policy.
"What we've got to do is convince this government and all political leaders in this country to take real action on this," he said.
"Not this Mickey Mouse scheme that has been stitched up with the leader of a mining company."
Direct Action has been heavily criticised by economics and climate scientists, who say the scheme will fail to meet Australia's reduction target.
Mr Cousins singled out Prime Minister Tony Abbott for not doing enough to address the issue.
"When the big United Nations summit [on climate change] was on in New York [in September], only three world leaders failed to arrive and one of them was our Prime Minister," he said.
"What was he doing? Riding a bike or shirt-fronting someone? Australians aren't silly. They understand that the government is not really interested in these issue at all."
On Sunday, Environment Minister Greg Hunt again said the government would meet the target with the current funds and approach.
He said that the first auctions under the Emissions Reduction Fund will begin in the first quarter of 2015.
"The Emissions Reduction Fund is open for business," he told Sky News.
Labor's environment spokesman, Mark Butler, said the policy was not a good one for the country.
"There has not been one single credible economist or climate scientist or business organisation that has said this is a good use of taxpayer funds that will achieve the stated objective, which is to reduce carbon pollution," Mr Butler told ABC TV.
Mr Cousins, who is also a millionaire businessman, was a consultant to prime minister John Howard for 10 years.
He has a long history as an environmentalist, campaigning against the Gunns pulp mill in Tasmania in 2007.
