Australia faces an election within months and new Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said she will announce additional steps on fighting climate change before the poll.
Climate change will be an election issue and analysts say Gillard must do something to win back voters angry over the government's shelving of an emissions trading scheme in April.
Gillard has said Australia needs to place a cost on planet-warming carbon emissions from industry, transport and households. A national consensus on how to do this is crucial.
Here is a look at what might come next in the government's fight to preserve its voter base and recapture disgruntled green voters ahead of elections.
A COMPROMISE EMISSIONS TRADING SCHEME OR CARBON TAX?
Very unlikely.
The political debate on emissions trading has become so polarized that Gillard will want to avoid anything that gives the opposition or powerful industry lobbies reason to ...