Business backs government climate policy that Morrison says is a ‘carbon tax’ when attacking Labor

With opinion polls suggesting both parties are bogged down, Scott Morrison has moved in recent days to reignite the climate wars. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

The Business Council of Australia insists the so-called safeguard mechanism is “the right incentive” to put Australia successfully on the path to net zero emissions, after Scott Morrison sought to weaponise climate action by branding his own policy a “sneaky carbon tax”.

The group representing Australia’s top corporates weighed in after Coalition figures were publicly at loggerheads about whether or not the Morrison government had made a firm commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050, with the Nationals senator Matt Canavan declaring the policy “all over bar the shouting”.