Members of Parliament are preparing for a frenetic week of business in the House which will be dominated by whether or not the Government can pass its Climate Change Bill, commonly referred to as the emissions trading scheme.
There is no certainty the Bill will come before Parliament any time soon.
Prime Minister Helen Clark would only say yesterday that she was not necessarily expecting a decision today.
The legislation was "poised for passage" whenever majority support was secured.
But there was no other comment from the Prime Minister.
The Green Party plays a major part in how the week will play out.
Labour MPs are using phrases such as "assuming the Greens make a decision" and "if the Green caucus can agree" as they await the news on whether support from Parliament's "environmental conscience" will be forthcoming.
In a move typical of the way the Greens operate consensus politics, the party called for public help on the way it should reach its decision.
The Bill is 15th on today's order paper and will come after some other controversial legislation is called in the house.
Included on the order paper are the Policing, the Walking Access and Real Estate Agents Bills, along with legislation deciding whether parents can take a break from work to feed infants.
The Government calls the emissions trading legislation its cornerstone response on climate change and a way of creating incentives across the economy to reduce emissions.
The emissions trading scheme the Government is supporting will cover all sectors of the economy and all gases under the Kyoto Protocol.
Federated Farmers called yesterday for MPs to take their time in considering their options.
President Don Nicolson said rushing into the proposal in the next few days was a high risk response to the issue of climate change.
It jeopardised the New Zealand economy and had little, if any chance, of achieving the global environmental outcomes sought.
United Future leader Peter Dunne, who is due in Dunedin today, rather than in Parliament to speak on the legislation, had said earlier the scheme would hit household budgets despite claims by the Greens and New Zealand First that they had negotiated improvements.
The Government's "absolute refusal" to face up to the issue of the impact on household budgets, and to tell New Zealanders the real story, was the reason United Future withdrew its support for the legislation.
Miss Clark has made much of the emissions trading scheme being steered through Parliament by Climate Change Minister David Parker.
There is no doubt Mr Parker, and the rest of his caucus colleagues, will have worked hard behind the scenes to shore up support for the legislation.
Climate change will be an election issue and to lose the chance of securing a major win on this important cornerstone will not be something Miss Clark wants to contemplate.
Question time today will be more raucous than ever as the Government prepares to tackle National on its user-pays policy.
Transport spokesman Maurice Williamson blurted out on Sunday his party had a strategy for large toll projects which could cost motorists $50 a week.
Mr Williamson was not available for later media comment, replaced instead by the steady deputy leader Bill English, who is tipped to become National's infrastructure minister if the party wins power at the next election.
Mr Williamson has apologised for his enthusiasm.
But the damage has been done.
Opening up his party again to claims of a secret agenda of privatising roads, schools and hospitals can only damage Mr Williamson's chances of becoming a cabinet minister of any note.
He has given the Government an opportunity it will not waste.
Political editor Dene Mackenzie is in Wellington this week.
