This nation's a bit player in game theory of climate change policy THIS week's collapse in the European carbon price vindicates Tony Abbott's opposition to the carbon tax introduced by Labor and the Greens. The Gillard government is now in a bind. Having committed Australian industry to a tax of $23 a tonne, rising to $24.15 on July 1, our country will pay while the rest of the world will not, and there is still no sign other countries will join us.