Prime Minister Scott Morrison is using hotly disputed forecasts of economic pain to try and flush out the missing pieces of Labor's climate change policy.

Key points: The Coalition is pressuring Labor to release the full details of its climate change policies

The Coalition is pressuring Labor to release the full details of its climate change policies Former deputy prime minister John Anderson says both sides are misleading the public on climate policies

Former deputy prime minister John Anderson says both sides are misleading the public on climate policies Anderson is using modelling criticised by Labor and the Australia Institute as "utterly dodgy" and flawed

An economic modeller has suggested the Opposition's target to cut carbon emissions could wipe billions of dollars out of the farming, mining, electricity and transport industries.

But Labor leader Bill Shorten has dismissed the forecast and promised to release his party's climate change policies soon.

The Opposition has pledged to slash emissions 45 per cent by 2030 based on 2005 levels but Mr Shorten refused to say if his party would use so-called carryover credits to reach the goal.

"I'm not going to announce today what we'll announce in the coming weeks," Mr Shorten said.

The Australian Government has 367 million tonnes of carbon "credits" from the current Kyoto Protocol period.

If Labor accepts the carbon "carryover" credits, the ambition of its emission reduction target would be effectively slashed to 34-35 per cent.

The Coalition has already said it would use the carryover component in pursuit of its Paris commitment.

"I've levelled with the Australian people about what our commitment is, how we're going to meet it," Mr Morrison said.

"Bill Shorten refuses to tell Australians what the cost of his reckless emissions targets will be on the agricultural sector, on power prices, on jobs, on wages."

Former Australian deputy prime minister John Anderson says the Coalition and Labor have misled the public over climate change policies. ( ABC Local: Alice Roberts )

Former deputy prime minister John Anderson, in an extended interview with the ABC, said neither side of politics had been completely honest about the true economic cost of their climate change policies.

Mr Anderson, who led the Nationals for six years from 1999 while John Howard was PM, said a lack of truth-telling on the cost of carbon abatement had been a major contributor to the decade of political dysfunction and leadership turmoil.

He called on both sides of Parliament to be more upfront to Australians about the economic impact of their rival policies before the May federal election.

Mr Anderson identified argument over energy policy as a major contributor to political instability over the past decade.

"The sort of fracturing we've seen over the last 10 years that people are so worried about unfortunately in many ways reflects the fracturing of the Australian community and in many ways a revolving door prime ministership problem of the last decade is closely related to energy policy," he said.

"I'm concerned that the Australian people, whilst they have plainly exercised their democratic right to say we want to deal with climate change and make a difference, are uncertain and even confused as to the best way forward.

"Carbon abatement is expensive and at the heart of our almost dysfunctional politics ... has been a refusal on the part of leaders to clearly explain that carbon abatement is expensive, that in fact it is a major economic shock to the system, whatever proposal is coming."

Mr Anderson has endorsed controversial modelling that purports to show the economic impact of rival climate change policies.

Forecasts climate policies will cut wages

Australia's former chief agricultural economist Brian Fisher said the Coalition's policy would cut wages 2 per cent, while average wages would fall 8 per cent, or $9,000 a year, under Labor's plans.

Using neither carryover credits nor international permits would cost $293 billion in cumulative GDP losses under the Coalition's 27 per cent target by 2030, and $1.2 trillion under Labor's 45 per cent target, according to Dr Fisher's modelling.

Against a projected real wage for 2030 of $106,000, and without the use of carryover credits or international permits, wages would fall to $101,000 and $82,000 respectively under the coalition and Labor climate policies.

The modelling suggests that if carryover credits were allowed, real wages would fall to $105,000 under the coalition's policy and $97,000 under Labor.

And if carryover and international permits were allowed, the difference between the two targets narrows further, with average wages forecast to be $105,000 under the coalition and $103,000 under Labor.

In terms of carbon price, the coalition's policy would come in at $73 a tonne, compared to $97 under Labor, assuming both mechanisms were adopted.

Labor's climate change spokesman Mark Butler said Dr Fisher's analysis was "utterly dodgy rubbish", noting that his report assumed renewable energy was as high as $200/MWh when Snowy Hydro was already offering contracts at $70/MWh.

"We've seen these fear campaigns claiming Whyalla would be wiped off the map, and lamb roasts will cost $100. Now we have this prediction of doom and gloom. They simply aren't credible," Mr Butler said.

The Australia Institute research director Rod Campbell dismissed the modelling, which he said was based on flawed assumptions.

"It's economic modelling like this that are giving economists a bad name," he said.