Admittedly would weigh on household budgets, the Australian government has volunteered to share some of the financial burden entailed by the proposed carbon tax.

The Australian government led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard has committed to compensate nine out of ten households to help families cope for the additional cost of carbon if the emissions trading scheme becomes official.

Ms Gillard said in an interview on Ten Network on Sunday that the vast majority estimated at 7 million Australians will enjoy the tax cuts, extra payments to couples with children and increase pensions, once the law gets approved by Parliament.

The Prime Minister lost majority favour from the public since she campaigned and pushed for the legality of a carbon trading scheme.

Australians who say the nation should take action has slipped to a record low 41 percent, according to a poll published during the weekend.

Ms Gillard's Labour Party would need the support of the independent lawmakers led by the Greens Party and to get it pass through Parliament.

Mr Bob Brown, leader of the Greens Party said there are "still one or two major hurdles" to clear before a deal is reached.

He noted in an interview with the ABC Radio that this will still take weeks before it can comprehensively be done.

He noted that Ms Gillard "is a very good negotiator and I'm -- like her and the independents -- approaching this with a positive spirit. We're not there yet, but we're working toward it."

A report is scheduled by month's end from the Multiparty Climate Change Committee of lawmakers on proposed legislation to go to parliament in the next three months.

Opposition

The opposition Liberal-National coalition has declined to join those completely favouring the carbon tax and will work out a fixed price per ton of carbon in an emissions system that would move to open trading as early as 2015. Also to be decided is aid to businesses and consumers to offset the impact, the Sydney Morning Herald said.

Although the government has yet to detail a fixed price, estimates showed that a charge of A$20 ($21) a metric ton would cost households A$550 a year, or A$10 a week with the carbon tax implemented, the Sunday Telegraph reported yesterday.