The Australian government is keeping its target date in implementing a carbon tax in July 2012 in spite a petition from industry sectors to postpone it.

Junior climate change minister Mark Dreyfus told ABC Radio today: "It's long past time that we took action on climate change."

This is Mr Dreyfus's response to the calls of the business community to delay the carbon tax a little longer.

In an earlier report of the Australian, a group of more than 20 leading Australian businesses is exerting pressure on Prime Minister Julia Gillard to delay the start date, while demanding an increase in the compensation offered to industry, exceeding possibly the offer by Kevin Rudd in 2009

Mr Dreyfus said hearings are being conducted involving a multi-party committee representing all sectors at stake if the carbon price takes into effect. The committee members are from government, representatives from the mining, manufacturing, and energy manufacture sectors, among others.

In a filing before the federal government's climate change committee, the industry sectors involved said the current plan lacks what it calls "institutional certainty. "

"We've now spent more than three years talking about the detail of how to take action," Mr Dreyfus said. From our view and the view of the multi-party committee it is an appropriate time for this to come in."

Mr Dreyfus said they are now threshing out all details for the carbon pricing and more patience is required from all the stakeholders of this carbon pricing scheme.

"The exact amounts of assistance and the allocation for each industry are some of the details that are we are now going to embark on negotiating," he noted adding that so far every stakeholder will have a say in the final rules.

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