It's nervous because within the next few weeks the Federal Government's proposed carbon pollution reduction scheme will be introduced into Federal Parliament.

In an unprecedented move, BlueScope Steel chairman Graham Kraehe has raised for the second time in as many weeks his company's fears of the effect such a scheme will have on its business and workforce, especially the Port Kembla works where the company already has committed to spending $1 billion on greenhouse gas reduction.

Mr Kraehe says BlueScope, already reeling from a huge decline in steel orders, will survive the economic downturn, but only if the emissions scheme is put on the backburner until the recession ends.

He questions, and rightly so, the Government's spending of billions of taxpayers' money on stimulus packages to save jobs which would then be put at risk through an unproven emissions scheme.

That would seem to be counter-productive and jeopardise Australia's competitive edge on world markets.

Kraehe is also correct when he says emissions are at their lowest levels for years because of the downturn in production.

His fears were backed up yesterday by Woodside Energy executive vice-president Robert Cole, who told the Senate Select Committee that Australia's natural gas exports would half by 2030 if the Government got the carbon pollution reduction scheme wrong.

The Mercury, as do most Australians and business organisations, firmly supports a carbon emissions scheme, but not in today's economic climate and not before the rest of the world joins the cause.

There is absolutely no point in Australia introducing and legislating such a scheme without the support of the world's biggest polluters.

For the good of all Australians the Government should put an immediate halt to the legislation until the recession ends.

If it does not it may well be sounding the death knell of an industry that has been this region's lifeblood for many years.