KEVIN Rudd could offer a range of sweeteners - including dumping the carbon tax - in a last-ditch attempt to snatch victory from the Coalition.

Mr Rudd has refused to commit to the saving and spending measures in Labor's Budget announced just last month, leaving him open to re-write the party's playbook as the election nears.

The restored PM will push to dump the carbon tax and go straight to an emissions trading scheme in a bid to unshackle the Government from the politically toxic policy.

After failing to announce any new policies on his first day back in the top job, Mr Rudd is under pressure from within Labor to overhaul funding for schools and hospitals, replace the carbon tax with an ETS and dump the mining tax.

Mr Rudd was last night locked in talks with his key backers as he came under increasing pressure to present a clean break from the era of his predecessor Julia Gillard.

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He is expected to announce a new ministerial line-up as early as today after losing more than a third of the Cabinet in his political comeback.

The Courier-Mail understands that the carbon tax, which is due to rise to $24.50 next week, will top the agenda when the new prime minister convenes his first Cabinet meeting on Monday.

However, in a signal that he would conduct a consensus government, Mr Rudd has indicated to colleagues that no changes would be made without approval of the Cabinet.

Axing the current fixed price and going straight to a market-based floating price could see the cost drop to as little as $6 a tonne. It was estimated that the move could cost several billion dollars in revenue.

With Parliament not due to return before an election, Mr Rudd is likely to announce it as an election policy.

Ms Gillard's deadline for Campbell Newman and other hold-out premiers to sign up to Labor's national school funding plan is likely to be extended beyond Sunday.

Mr Rudd faces calls to take a tougher approach to asylum seekers to counter the Opposition's attacks that he sparked the recent increase in boat arrivals by watering down border protection laws when he was last in charge.

In his first Question Time after his comeback as prime minister, Mr Rudd refused to rule out other changes to budget measures despite complaints from some Labor MPs about handouts for new parents or jobseekers.

But Mr Rudd may have little room to move given the current tight budget position after he vowed to tackle the Opposition's attacks on Labor's record of debt and deficits head on in a debate with Mr Abbott.

Mr Rudd said he would get budget briefings from the public service over the weekend.

He lashed out at the "negativity'' of Mr Abbott and said he would elevate the tone of political debate.

"Let us try, just try, to be a little kinder and gentler with each other in the deliberations of this Parliament,'' he said.

After being sworn in as prime minister for a second time in just over three years, Mr Rudd signalled he would dump the September 14 election date but did not say when it would be held.

In a dramatic final day of the 43rd Parliament, Defence Minister Stephen Smith added his name to the growing list of MPs who will retire.

A stoic Ms Gillard took her place on the backbench along with Wayne Swan, Craig Emerson and Peter Garrett.

But other Gillard supporters Tony Burke and Gary Gray retained their positions on the frontbench after Mr Rudd rejected their offers to quit.

At a party for ministerial staff at the Lodge after the leadership coup, Mr Swan urged those closest to him not to give up on Labor.

"Everyone here tonight shouldn't think that because we haven't got what we wanted necessarily in the affairs of the Labor Party or the Government that in any way stops your passion for what you want for our country,'' Mr Swan told the emotional crowd.

One-time allies of Ms Gillard Penny Wong, Jason Clare and David Bradbury revealed they had defected from her camp along with powerbroker Bill Shorten.

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Originally published as Rudd plans to dump carbon tax