Australia's HVAC&R industry has until November 4, 2013 to forward submissions on the Carbon Tax Repeal Bills.
The repeal bills will remove the carbon tax, and end the tax on synthetic greenhouse gases.
Under the legislation, the Climate Change Authority will be abolished.
The federal government said many of the functions currently performed by the Authority will not be needed once the carbon tax is gone.
The legislation will give the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) further powers to take action against businesses that engage in price exploitation following the repeal of the carbon tax.
Carbon tax industry assistance, including the Jobs and Competitiveness Program, will continue until June 30, 2014 to assist affected businesses.
Environment Minister Greg Hunt said repeal of the carbon tax represents a major contribution to the Government’s deregulation agenda by removing around 440 pages of legislation and reducing business compliance costs by about $100 million annually.
With the release of the draft repeal bills, businesses have an opportunity to comment on the specific details of the repeal process.
"Good governments engage in proper consultation, which means that the draft legislation could be further refined before introduction to the Parliament," Hunt said adding that the role of the Clean Energy Regulator will continue.
"The Clean Energy Regulator will ensure that carbon tax liabilities are met in full. Any enquiries regarding compliance and reporting arrangements for 2013-14 should continue to be directed to the Clean Energy Regulator.
"The government will consult separately on the design of the Emissions Reduction Fund and the Direct Action Plan."
Last week the government released its Terms of Reference for the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) as part of its Direct Action Plan.
The Government is urging business and community groups and organisations to make submissions in response to the Terms of Reference.
"The ERF will provide incentives for companies to reduce their emissions to achieve a five per cent reduction in emissions by 2020," Hunt said.
"It will be a market mechanism designed to simply and efficiently source the lowest cost abatement. And unlike the Labor’s $9 billion a year carbon tax, the costs of the ERF will be capped at $300 million (2014-15), $500 million (2015-16) and $750 million (2016-17) over the forward estimates.
Submissions in response to the Terms of Reference will be considered in the development of a Green Paper which will be released in December, 2013.
A White Paper outlining the final design of the Emissions Reduction Fund will be released early 2014.
The Emissions Reduction Fund will take effect from July 1, 2014.
The Terms of Reference are available on the Department’s website at www.environment.gov.au/emissions-reduction-fund and the consultation process remains open until November 18, 2013.
Australian Greens Leader Christine Milne said the new government does not have a mandate to remove carbon pricing.
She said the new government is claiming it has a mandate to do nothing about global warming.
"They are wrong. Without our price on pollution Australia has no effective action to reduce emissions and build jobs in clean energy," Milne said.
"By attempting to dismantle the price on pollution Tony Abbott is attempting to destroy the only effective policy to reduce the extreme weather and droughts that loom over the next half century."
