About 80 protesters chanted "democracy is dead" and "no mandate". There were two teams of protesters, seated on each side of the lower house chamber. They stood up one group at a time to disrupt Ms Gillard as she attempted to answer a question from a Liberal MP. The protesters were escorted from the chamber by security guards but could still be heard as they left the public area. Earlier, one woman shouted "liar" while Ms Gillard was addressing the house.

Speaker Harry Jenkins warned that it was a privilege to be allowed into the public gallery. "I hope that visitors understand they are not permitted to intervene in proceedings," he said. After Mr Jenkins's comments, another 14 protesters, one with an Australian flag, stood up on either side of the chamber and shouted the same slogans.



They were ejected promptly.



Two male protesters then stood up from the speaker's gallery, at the end of the chamber, waving shoes and shouting at the Prime Minister: "What happened to your shoe leather?"



One of the men got into a wrestle with security guards as they tried to remove him from the gallery.



Mr Jenkins said he wanted the public to continue to have access to the lower house galleries but they shouldn't disrupt proceedings even if they had strong feelings about the issues being discussed.



"We have got to a stage where I'm actually getting messages about whether I'm condensing clearing the galleries," he told Parliament.



"I am not. But if there's anybody else in the gallery that wants to get something off their chest do it now and then leave by themselves.



"The only alternative that I do have is to clear the galleries - but I'll not be doing that." Later, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott moved to suspend regular proceedings so he could censure the Prime Minister "for betraying the Australian people with the introduction of the world's biggest carbon tax" after promising she wouldn't. "Today this Parliament has witnessed the unseemly spectacle of a government cheering itself for breaking its own election promise," he told Parliament as his colleagues yelled "shame, shame, shame".

Ministers had celebrated the betrayal "with a kiss". That was a reference to the hugs and kisses shared by Ms Gillard and her ministers earlier in the day after the government won the carbon tax vote 74 to 72. Most notably, the Prime Minister was embraced by the man she deposed as Labor leader, Kevin Rudd. Mr Abbott said people, including the protesters in the public gallery, were angry because they were lied to by Labor. "This Prime Minister shouldn't just say sorry; she should resign," he said.

The government, with the support of key crossbench MPs, has the numbers to defeat Mr Abbott's push to censure Ms Gillard. When leader of the house, the NSW Labor MP Anthony Albanese approached the dispatch box, the crowd again began to chant "Boo!" The Speaker stopped Mr Albanese from speaking above the din: "The Leader of the Opposition was heard in silence; the leader of the house will be heard in silence". To which Mr Albanese replied: "Consistency is not their strong point." Mr Albanese accused the Coalition of ''stacking'' the public gallery to increase the ''hysteria''.

''Whipping up people in the gallery day after day; they were signed in by members of Parliament to be in the gallery on this day.'' Once the group of mainly mature-aged protesters began to leave the chamber they continued to chant and ignore security directives to exit the building. One protester claimed the carbon tax was "all about saving the banks". One woman told AAP disrupting question time was justified because Ms Gillard had "lied" about a carbon tax. Another protester compared the behaviour of protesters with that of the politicians during question time, saying MPs "set an example".

He warned there was "more to come" but refused to say what that meant because it would be "telegraphing our punches". The group has now moved to Federation Mall outside Parliament House and continues to shout "democracy is dead". Ms Gillard earlier kicked off question time by telling Mr Abbott his opposition to the carbon tax meant he was being "marooned by the tide of history". "As history has marched past you in this Parliament today there you are standing on the sidelines, relentless negativity the order of the day," she said. "This is a reform to shape the future.

"It's taken determination and today we have got this done." Ms Gillard said the carbon price regime was being delivered with income tax cuts and increased welfare payments. The government says households will pay $9.90 a week more for the cost of living as a result of the price on pollution. But they will receive, on average, $10.10 a week in compensation. "The issue is will this nation have a clean energy future?" Ms Gillard said.

"We've said 'Yes', you've said 'No'." Clarification: This article originally included a paragraph from an AAP report stating that Peter Madden was one of the protesters involved in the public gallery protest. Mr Madden says that although he was in parliament yesterday to present a petition to the prime minister, he was not involved in the protest in the house. - with AAP

Loading Follow Environment on Twitter