The NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell has been caught out playing political games, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Greg Combet, said today.

At the same time, Nationals Senate Leader Barnaby Joyce has belled the cat on the Coalition’s Direct Action policy, saying it was just a “gesture” which would do nothing to tackle climate change.

Reports this morning show that before the NSW election Mr O’Farrell gave explicit backing to federal Labor’s plans to put a price on carbon under an emissions trading scheme.

In a submission to the Federal Government in September 2008, the NSW Coalition said:

“The NSW Liberal/Nationals Coalition supports the establishment of a carbon pollution reduction scheme, principally operating as a national emissions trading scheme, as a means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.”

The submission argued that a well-designed emissions trading scheme would reduce pollution and manage Australia’s transition to a lower-carbon economy at the lowest possible cost to the economy.

This exposes the political trickiness of Liberals like Mr O’Farrell and Tony Abbott.

Before the election Mr O’Farrell supported a price on carbon through an emissions trading scheme.

Now he makes extravagant claims that it will destroy the NSW economy – if that is true why did he support it before the election?

Climate change is an important policy issue and voters deserve better than phony scare campaigns from Mr Abbott and Mr O’Farrell.

Compounding the hypocrisy, Senator Joyce has described Mr Abbott’s Direct Action policy as a “gesture” which would be dropped after four years.

The Coalition’s subsidies-for-polluters policy would cost families an average of $720 a year in higher taxes to pay big polluters.

If you are serious about tackling climate change you need a genuine policy not a cynical political gesture.

Labor’s carbon price will apply to less than 1,000 of the country’s biggest polluters and every cent of the revenue will go to assisting households with price impacts, supporting jobs and investing in clean energy.