The Federal Government had set a ''very low target'' to tackle climate change and the cabinet was clearly divided over the issue, Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey said yesterday.
But Treasurer Wayne Swan said the Opposition had failed to offer a coherent position on the emissions trading scheme amid all the confusion on its front bench.
''We strongly support this package [and] we're going to take it through enthusiastically,'' Mr Swan told Meet the Press.
The trading scheme is the centrepiece of the Government's bid to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5 per cent by 2020 or 15 per cent if other countries are onboard.
Environmentalists argue the target is too soft, while business groups fear the scheme will drive jobs and investment off shore. Last week, MrSwan commissioned a parliamentary inquiry into the issue and called it off a few days later.
Mr Hockey said yesterday this was a ''clown show''.
''He doesn't know whether he's Wayne or Wendy in relation to the emissions trading scheme. Well that's just a reflection of the cabinet. The cabinet is clearly divided,'' Mr Hockey said on Insiders.
Mr Swan dismissed the ''glib one-liner'', saying the Opposition's position was unclear.
''Malcolm Turnbull can't make up his mind. Andrew Robb wants a carbon tax. George Brandis and the others are saying they're going to oppose the legislation in total,'' MrSwan said.
The Government would issue an exposure draft in a few weeks and put forward the legislation from ''May onwards''.
''We'll see whether the Liberal Party and Joe Hockey can craft a coherent policy amid all of the confusion that reigns on their front bench when it comes to this critical area of investment and certainty for the Australian economy,'' Mr Swan said.
Without Opposition support, the Government will need the Greens, Family First's Steve Fielding and Independent Nick Xenophon who have all reservations about the scheme to pass the legislation in the Senate.
The Opposition is yet to reveal its position but a split has already emerged, with Nationals MPs strongly criticising the scheme.
Mr Hockey said the scheme would have a ''profound impact''.
''[But] we've got an Australian Government that is in that grey twilight area of having a very low target but wanting to lead the world,'' he said.
Greens deputy leader Christine Milne warned it was a dangerous game to play politics with these targets. ''[Australians] will not be impressed by an Opposition trying on green clothing but with coal dust still all over its hands,'' Senator Milne said.
''The Opposition cannot get away with being critical of the Rudd Government's weak targets without proposing a stronger alternative.''
Mr Hockey and Mr Swan traded barbs over another economic issue home buyers who had fixed their interest rates before the Reserve Bank slashed the official rate to the lowest level since the 1960s.
Mr Swan blamed the Howard government for those people who were ''certainly in a very difficult position''. ''And the main reason that they are there ... is because interest rates went up something like 10 times under the Liberal Party and, of course, many people reacted to that by fixing their rates,'' Mr Swan said.
But Mr Hockey blamed the Rudd Government's ''war on inflation'' for the disaster, which saw a 20 per cent surge in the number of Australians who had fixed the interest rate on their home loans.
''Now they may well be paying 400 basis points or ... up to 4 per cent more for their mortgage today than they would have if [Prime Minister] Kevin Rudd had not declared a losing war on inflation,'' Mr Hockey said.
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