After witnessing two weeks of what Tony Abbott has now described as a "truth campaign" against the government's plans to introduce a carbon price, Australians could be forgiven for thinking it's not 2011, but 1984.

Business and industry, the media, environmental groups and the community are engaging with the government's plans. But far from a truth campaign, the opposition has sought at every opportunity to confuse and mislead, to the detriment of the genuine debate Australians deserve.

At the heart of Abbott's campaign is his claim to have a credible alternative to achieve the bipartisan 5 per cent target by 2020. But projections show that the Coalition's plan will leave us hundreds of millions of tonnes of abatement short of meeting our goal.

We know that the Coalition plan would require the purchase of $20 billion worth of international carbon pollution permits, on top of the self-assessed $10.5 billion cost of its policy. This would result in a $30 billion budget black hole.

Journalists have responded by rightly asking Abbott to name an economist who backs his direct action climate policy. A week later, we're still waiting for an answer.