DEPUTY Prime Minister Wayne Swan has called for an end to ''extreme rhetoric'' after a week of intense mud-slinging from both sides of Parliament.
Mr Swan said the Liberal Party was part of an ''unholy alliance on climate change in this country'' which included the federal opposition, Pauline Hanson, One Nation affiliates and extremist political groups.
Despite calling for calm in parliamentary behaviour, Mr Swan took aim at Opposition Leader Tony Abbott as fanning a political climate of ''fear and intolerance''.
But Mr Abbott decried Mr Swan's comments as ''increasingly shrill and desperate'' in the climate change debate.
Mr Abbott has attracted heavy criticism for addressing an anti-carbon tax rally that featured placards and slogans of Prime Minister Julia Gillard as a ''witch'' and ''Bob Brown's bitch''.
Mr Swan said Mr Abbott had turned scare campaigning into an ''art form''.
Mr Abbott has distanced himself from the placards and ''small minority'' of extremist groups but has continued his call for an election so voters can decide on the proposed carbon tax.
Ms Gillard, he said, had unfairly sidelined millions of Australians who disagreed with the tax as ''extremists''.
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