THE Federal Government won't be ditching its plan for a carbon tax but will be listening closely to the views of key independent MP Tony Windsor.

Mr Windsor has said if Labor moved directly to an emissions trading scheme - rather than introducing a carbon tax first - it would not be in trouble for lying to the electorate.

Asked whether ditching the tax was a possibility, Climate Change Minister Greg Combet on Wednesday said: "Well no, we've made an important commitment to get a price on carbon and we've made progress and announced a framework for doing it."

But Mr Combet said the government would be talking with Mr Windsor about the framework, announced in February, which envisages a price on carbon starting in mid-2012.

Mr Windsor's vote could be crucial to any legislation passing the lower house and Mr Combet admitted that made him "very important".

"We'll also be talking about the details and any views Mr Windsor's got about how to approach it when we next meet in our multi-party committee," Mr Combet said.

The minister also insisted the Gillard Government had not yet decided to roll out a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign to try to sell the carbon price regime.

"No decisions have been taken about that yet and it's not appropriate to speculate about it," he said.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has predicted Labor will run an ad campaign in response to his "truth campaign" against the carbon tax.

The prime minister has refused to rule out such a move.

The government's junior climate change spokesman, Mark Dreyfus, admitted Labor was facing a "communications challenge" as a result of Mr Abbott's "monumental scare campaign".

Mr Combet said there had been too much focus on politics and not enough on policy.

"A carbon price will cut pollution and drive investment in clean energy," he said.

"We've got to keep arguing our case."

Mr Windsor believes the Gillard Government only has itself to blame for the mess.

"If they'd gone directly to an emissions trading scheme they wouldn't be having the argument about lying about a carbon tax," he said.

Ms Gillard promised prior to the 2010 election not to introduce a carbon tax.