Climate Change Minister Penny Wong remained tight-lipped today about petrol being included in an emissions trading scheme (ETS).
But she did say excluding petrol would put extra pressure on other carbon-emission producing sectors of the economy.
"We have a process in place for making decisions on coverage and other issues," she told reporters.
"We will release a green paper after Professor (Ross) Garnaut's draft report and that will outline government's thinking on this issue and other issues."
The government would provide assistance to households when the scheme starts operating in 2010, Senator Wong said.
"We've said from the beginning that we would ensure there are measures in place to assist Australian households with the impact of a carbon price," she said.
"What the opposition is not telling people is if you exclude one or other sector of the economy, the rest of the economy has to do more work to reduce emissions.
"If we are going to achieve the sorts of emission reductions that Australia needs, that the globe needs, then we need a contribution across the community and across the economy and the decision is what strategies do you employ in relation to each sector."
