The deadline is the result of a negotiated deal between the Labor government and the Coalition.

But Minchin told Sky News this morning no “unconditional guarantees” were made to vote on the scheme by this afternoon’s deadline.

He also discussed the possibility of another leadership spill against Liberal party leader Malcolm Turnbull.

A series of Opposition front benchers resigned from their positions yesterday because of concerns about the CPRS.

Tony Abbott resigned from his shadow ministerial roles and could be a possible leadership contender.

Liberal resignations yesterday included Eric Abetz, Tony Smith, Stephen Parry, Michael Johnson, Sophie Mirabella, Judith Adams, David Bushby, Mitch Fifield, Mathias Cormann and Brett Mason.

Ian Macfarlane, who led the Liberal party climate change negotiations with the Labor government, told Dow Jones Newswires Turnbull had the support of the majority of the Liberal party.

The CPRS was shot down by a 12-seat Senate margin in August.

This time around, media reports suggest Labor needs only seven Opposition senators to change their minds to pass the CPRS.

ACIL Tasman, Concept Economics and Access Economics have all predicted the loss of thousands of coal mining jobs under the scheme.

ACIL’s report forecast 3300 job losses by 2021, Concept Economics expects 9040 by 2020, and Access Economics predicted 6470 jobs would go from the black coal sector.

The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union disputes these numbers, using findings from consultancy McLennan Magasanik Associates to forecast there would be 10,000-16,000 more coal mining jobs in 2020 under the CPRS.