A senior union official has slammed calls from within Labor to support repealing the carbon tax, as a "stupid" idea from a "muppet".

The incoming Abbott government has been piling the pressure on Labor to "honour" its mandate and support scrapping the tax, to guarantee passage of the repeal legislation through the Senate.

South Australian Labor MP Nick Champion says the ALP in opposition should support the new government's plan to dump the carbon pricing scheme, because the Coalition's alternative policy of "direct action" is a "disaster".

"Given that it would be a policy disaster, I think it would be a disaster for Mr Abbott, it would be a disaster for the Liberal Party and it would hasten their demise," he told AM.

"And in effect I believe if the Liberal Party want to hang themselves, well we should give them as much as rope as they need."

Victorian Labor MP and former Trade Minister Richard Marles has agreed - albeit cautiously - that Labor should respect the election result.

"We do acknowledge the fact that Abbott won the election and we lost and we need to face that reality," he told Sky TV.

"And questions of mandate are issues that we need to consider and where I completely agree with Nick Champion is we need to be choosing our battles very carefully when we're in opposition."

But Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union president Tony Maher has labelled Mr Champion a political "amateur" and says he hopes "no one listens to that advice" - particularly the new party leader.

"That basically says - how about Labor stands for nothing," he said.

"I think it's just cheap kindergarten politics, trumping standing up for something.

"It could equally apply to the IR laws, to the ABCC, to anything else, so once you go through that path, of waving through everything for the Coalition, then why would people vote for you, why would all those Labor stalwarts stick with Labor?"

Mr Maher says he hopes the new Labor leader is an "adult".

Sorry, this video has expired Nick Champion speaks with Nick Dole

"The sooner they get a captain of the ship the better, otherwise muppets like this will keep saying stupid stuff," he said.

Mr Maher is also concerned that if Labor supports scrapping the carbon scheme, that would throw doubt on any measures from a future Labor government.

"On the specifics of the policy, we negotiated a lot of protections, billions of dollars worth for workers in heavy industry in that package," he said.

"And if we're going to have to do that all over again in five or six years time, I'm not confident we'd get the same deal."

Not our job to save Liberals from bad policy: Champion

Mr Champion also based his argument on allowing people who voted for "bad policy" to "see that experiment fulfilled".

"It's not our job to save the Liberal Party from bad policy and it's not our job to save the Australian people from bad policy if that's what they choose, if that's what they vote for in an election," he added.

But Labor's climate change spokesman - and former minister - Mark Butler says having a price on carbon is a long-standing Labor policy.

He says Mr Champion should put his view to caucus.

"He can bring that to caucus and we can have a debate about that," Mr Butler told ABC Local Radio in Adeliade.

"It's one of the luxuries of opposition - but I've annunciated very clearly what the Labor party's position is on this."

Mr Champion says the former Labor government's emissions trading scheme was the product of a consensus between the Greens, Labor and - at one point - the Liberal party.

"That consensus is now broken down and I don't see why the Labor Party should necessarily stay wedded to this concept when everybody else has walked away from it in one form or another.

"You know, parental leave is a similar case. I think if Tony Abbott wants to give $75,000 a year to millionaires to have a baby, well, we should allow him to implement that and then hold him accountable."

Hunt says removing carbon tax is part of Coalition's mandate

The incoming government's climate change spokesman, Greg Hunt, says "Nick Champion has got it right".

"The simple, decent, honourable thing to do would be to acknowledge the result of the election, to allow the Coalition to proceed with its mandate to govern and first and foremost amongst that mandate role is removal of the carbon tax," he said.

Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott has already instructed his top bureaucrats to begin drawing up the draft legislation to axe the carbon pricing scheme.

The government has promised that the legislation would be the first order of business when parliament resumes in late October or early November.