Tony Abbott delivered a trifecta of mistakes on climate change in one press conference today.

Mistake 1

Mr Abbott told journalists the Rudd Government’s assistance to 8.1 million Australian households under the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is temporary.

Tony Abbott, 15 December 2009: “The thing about Mr Rudd's compensation is that it's temporary. The tax is permanent, but the compensation, if any, is temporary.”

Mr Abbott is just plain wrong.  The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme provides direct assistance for price rises for 9 out of 10 Australian households.

This assistance is permanent – in fact over the next ten years, on average more than 50 per cent of the revenue raised from the Scheme each year will go to households.

The assistance will also be increased to reflect increases in the price of carbon.

Mistake 2

Mr Abbott again told journalists that the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme would cost households $1100 a year.

Again, Mr Abbott is just wrong.

Mr Abbott’s figure is based on modelling from the National Institute of Economic and Industry Research that was undertaken back in May 2007, before the Rudd Government was even elected.

The Government has repeatedly made clear that the average price impact for all households will be around $624 per year in 2013.

90% of all households will receive assistance, and on average these households will receive around $660 of compensation in 2013.

So instead of being $1100 out of pocket as Mr Abbott says, these households will on average be better off once the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is up and running – even before money saving home energy efficiency improvements are taken into account.

Mistake 3

Mr Abbott also incorrectly attributed a 62 per cent increase in the price of electricity in NSW to the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.

Tony Abbott, 15 December 2009: “The New South Wales pricing regulator has estimated that New South Wales electricity prices will go up by 62 percent - 62 percent - in the next three years, and those massive increases are due in significant measure to Mr Rudd's emissions tax.”

In fact, the report Mr Abbott is referring to makes it quite clear that Mr Abbott overstates the impact of the CPRS by around three times.

IPART’s true estimates for the CPRS are consistent with Government modelling - and will be offset by the Rudd Government’s household assistance measures.

Mr Abbott continues to make mistakes in his haste to run a scare campaign against action on climate change.

Mr Abbott knows his so called ‘direct action’ approach to climate change is the most expensive and ineffective way to address climate change.

The Liberal’s ‘direct action’ approach would strangle the Australian economy in miles and miles of red tape.

The Liberal’s red tape model would mean bureaucrats in Canberra telling farmers which crops to plant, small businesses which trucks to buy and families which TV to purchase.

The Rudd Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is the cheapest and fairest way to support families and tackle climate change.