Prime Minister Kevin Rudd unveiled the revised scheme on Tuesday, urging opposition politicians who have opposed his plan to cut carbon emissions to now back the carbon-trade laws.

“The Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) is a major economic and environmental reform that will take Australia to a low-carbon future,” Rudd said in a statement.

The scheme is scheduled to start in July 2011 and cover 1000 of Australia’s biggest polluters and the changes were made after weeks of negotiations with the opposition.

If they pass the Senate, Rudd hopes to play a prominent role in negotiating a new global climate treaty at a summit in Copenhagen next month. Senate approval would mean Australia backing what would be only the second domestic emissions trading scheme outside of Europe to pass into law.

The United States and New Zealand, which are also trying to pass carbon trading laws, are eyeing developments in Australia closely.

Rudd’s revised scheme still remains far from assured as opposition parties are deeply divided over it, with some conservatives vowing to vote against the laws regardless of the deal and some moving to delay the vote until February 2010.

If the laws are again rejected by a hostile Senate after a failed August vote, Rudd would have a trigger for a snap election on climate change.

“A vote on the bill must be held before parliament rises this week. Passing the CPRS this week will give Australian businesses the certainty they need to make investments,” Rudd said.

“It will also mean Australia goes to Copenhagen with a means to deliver its targets and provide a much-needed boost to negotiations on a global deal.”

Greens politicians disagreed

“Today is a black day for Australia’s green future, and we intend to campaign on this all the way to the next election. It’s polluters payday in parliament house,” said Senator Bob Brown, leader of the Australian Greens, which have five seats in the Senate.

UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December will seek to reach agreement on broader, and tougher, strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally to replace or expand the existing Kyoto Protocol, whose first phase ends in 2012.

More compensation

Under Australia’s “cap-and-trade” scheme polluters must buy a permit for every ton of carbon they produce.

The government has proposed a flat carbon price cap of A$10 ($9.25) a ton on start-up, rising to A$26 per ton in 2012-13. The scheme would move to full auctioning and trading of permits from 2012.

Under the revised scheme, additional compensation will result initially in an additional government spending of A$1.28 billion and A$7.01 billion over 2019-20, said Rudd in a statement.

The coal industry will receive A$1.5 billion in compensation over five years and the electricity sector will see compensation rise from A$3.3 billion to A$7.3 billion.

Australia, the world’s biggest coal exporter, produces about 1.5% of global emissions and is one of the world’s highest per-capita emitters of greenhouse gases.

Australia has set a unilateral emissions reduction target of 5% below 2000 levels by 2020, rising to 25% if a strong global climate agreement is reached in the UN negotiations.

The government has already amended the scheme to exclude agriculture, as demanded by conservatives.

“We have got a very good package and I think we have an exceptional package. It’s a deal that will protect jobs and the environment in Australia,” Ian Macfarlane, conservative negotiator on the emissions-trading laws, told reporters.

Macfarlane said he was confident the deal would be accepted by opposition parties, but added: “I will wait for the party room to see who is going to decide to vote for this.”