Tony Abbott is confident he won't need to go quickly to a double-dissolution election to get rid of the carbon tax if the coalition wins government.

Mr Abbott's first action if he becomes prime minister on Saturday will be to draft legislation to abolish Labor's carbon-pricing regime.

The opposition leader has previously said that he would consider a double-dissolution election to get the laws through if the legislation was blocked in the Senate.

While Climate Change Minister Mark Butler says Labor won't ditch its long-standing commitment to an emissions trading scheme "win, lose, or draw", Mr Abbott believes Labor is divided on what it would do after the election.

He expects the coalition to get its way on the carbon tax.

"If we win the election - which is a referendum on the carbon tax - the last thing the Labor party will do is commit political suicide twice by continuing to support this toxic carbon tax," he told reporters in Adelaide.

"I would expect the parliament to respect our mandate."

Asked about his double-dissolution election threat, Mr Abbott said: "We will abolish the carbon tax - no ifs, no buts, it is gone."

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has declined to speculate on what could happen after the election.