A LABOR MP has backed calls for the federal government to intervene to help close and replace Australia's ''dirtiest'' power station, the Hazelwood coal-fired plant in the Latrobe Valley.

Kelvin Thomson, the member for Wills in Melbourne's northern suburbs, praised a report that suggests the Hazelwood plant could be replaced by 2012 at a cost of about $320 million a year.

In a speech to Parliament, Mr Thomson said there was a case for the Commonwealth and Victorian governments to help negotiate an early close with the plant's owners, International Power.

It comes as some government MPs push for a major revamp of climate change policy before the federal election, in a bid to regain support lost when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said carbon trading would be delayed until at least 2013.

The report, commissioned by Environment Victoria, estimates shutting Hazelwood would cut Victoria's greenhouse gas emissions by up to 12 per cent, and national emissions by 3 per cent.