Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said “do-nothing” skeptics, deniers and a “gaggle of conspiracy theorists” are among opponents impeding efforts to tackle climate change and pass a carbon pollution reduction plan.

“Together these groups, alive in every major country including Australia, constitute a powerful global force for inaction,” Rudd said in a speech today in Sydney.

Australia is at a key juncture ahead of global climate- change talks next month in Copenhagen, he said at the Lowy Institute for International Policy. If the nation’s politicians fail to act swiftly with new legislation, “then it will be a failure that will echo through future generations,” he said.

Rudd said the government must push ahead with the pollution reduction plan, due to go before the upper-house Senate for a second vote later this month. Senators blocked the law in August.

It’s time “to remove any polite veneer from this debate,” Rudd said. Australian companies need the “certainty” that would come with carbon legislation, he said. Progress on policies to address climate change and introduce an emissions trading system has reached “crunch time.”

Rudd wants carbon trading to start in 2011 to help reduce greenhouse gases by 5 percent to 15 percent from their 2000 level within 10 years. He plans to increase that goal to 25 percent provided a global agreement is reached.

Rudd’s Labor government needs the outside support of seven senators from other parties to pass the legislation as it doesn’t have a majority in Australia’s upper house. The Liberal National coalition also requires other lawmakers’ backing to block the passage of the bill in the Senate.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Paton in Sydney at jpaton4@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 6, 2009 01:59 EST