Palaszczuk said he was concerned that some members of the nuclear energy taskforce appointed by the Government have advocated a carbon tax.

Carbon tax is a tax on energy sources which emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

"A carbon tax is a tax on coal," Palaszczuk said.

When Prime Minister John Howard announced a debate on nuclear energy during his visit to Canada last month, he said he wanted "all options are on the table".

"Therefore, a carbon tax is on the table. I know Federal Treasurer Peter Costello has tried to rule it out, but we have no such reassurance from the Prime Minister," Palaszczuk said.

"To even contemplate a coal tax when the means to reduce pollution is being developed and industry is willing to invest in abatement technology is wrong.

"The Australian coal industry has shown its bona fides in investing in clean coal technology by levying coal companies to create Coal21 which will provide $300 million over five years to work with electricity generators to develop clean coal technology."

He said introducing a coal tax would not only threaten jobs in the coal industry, but also make Australian manufacturers less competitive and mean more job losses.

Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and Norway all have carbon taxes in place and last year New Zealand proposed and rejected the idea of enacting a carbon tax.