Australian actor Michael Caton described Cate Blanchett a “passionate person” as he defends her role in an ad promotion supporting carbon tax.

Blanchett received “below the belt criticisms” from people who express she can afford to support the tax because she is wealthy.

Caton and Blanchett are both part of the “We Say Yes Campaign” which calls for a price on carbon.

A coalition of union and green groups funded the advertisements as Prime Minister Julia Gillard allegedly ordered her ministers to promote the carbon tax scheme proposed by the government.

Nationals Senate leader Senator Barnaby Joyce attacked Blanchett’s role in the ads. She said highly paid actor such as Blanchett should understand the effects of the tax to the less well-off.

"It's very easy for people who have a good wage to suggest that we engage in a gesture which will have no effect, but the people who really pay the price are the ones who can't afford the fundamentals of life right now," Joyce said.

In Blanchett’s defense, Caton said not because people are financially successful, “it does not mean they cannot be passionate for a cause.”
Caton added, “People should not be prevented from making political statements just because they were wealthy.”

According to ABC News, Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Climate Change Institute are three of the 11 organizations that launched TV ads on Sunday with Blanchett and Caton calling for the public to "say yes" to cutting carbon pollution.

The chairman of the Climate Institute, Mark Wooton, rejected Senator Joyce's criticism.

"I think she as an individual has as much right to make a comment as anyone else does. A lot of the people making comments have a lot less credibility than she does. She actually did a training program about climate and she has a strong background in that area. So I think there's some stuff going on that people are a bit unfair," Wooton said.

Opposition climate spokesman Greg Hunt expressed Blanchett is "perfectly entitled" to make her point. "The acting community is perfectly entitled to make their own campaign statements funded by the unions," Hunt added.

Watch the Say Yes Australia ad: