Bill Shorten recommits to ETS, opposing 'Abbott’s society of flat-earthers'

Notes for Labor leader's opening address to party conference include a vow not to succumb to 'ridiculous scare campaigns' and declare that an ETS is not a tax

Bill Shorten was due to recommit to an emissions trading scheme in his first speech to Labor's national conference as party leader, vowing not to succumb to "ridiculous scare campaigns" by Tony Abbott's "society of flat earthers".

The Labor leader intended to stare down the prime minister's warnings about a return to the Gillard government's carbon tax by declaring emphatically that "an ETS is not a tax" and Australia must not be a laggard on climate policy.