Labor’s energy minister’s door may be open, but is that true of his mind?
It was noteworthy that Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen had members of Emergency Leaders for Climate Action – “the group that Scott Morrison refused to meet with” – stand alongside him at today’s presser. While the event was mostly dedicated to the unfolding energy crisis (the government won’t be pulling the gas-market “trigger”, but it will convene a meeting of state ministers), Bowen was eager to foreground the climate leaders he had just met with, adding that Labor would be listening to experts. Former NSW fire and rescue commissioner Greg Mullins said this was a “stark contrast” with the Coalition, which famously refused to heed the group’s warnings ahead of the Black Summer bushfires. “The last government had closed doors and closed minds,” Mullins said, noting that the incoming one had already “opened the door”. Bowen, when pushed on whether he would consider the 75 per cent emissions-reduction target that the group advocates for, returned to crowing about a mandate, claiming that Labor had to stick to its election pledge. (“Forty-three per cent is a lot better than 26–28 per cent,” Mullins said diplomatically.) Labor’s doors may indeed be open. But amid reports it has now backed in Woodside’s Scarborough gas project (which will make its lacklustre 2030 target even harder to achieve), just how open are its minds?
There were other green shoots today, not least the news that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s public service overhaul includes a new mega-department covering climate change, energy, the environment and water, which will advise on implementing climate policies. (It will also, no doubt, advise on reinstating recovery plans for 176 threatened species, which the new Liberal deputy, Sussan Ley, scrapped in one of her final acts as environment minister. Incoming Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has already expressed her concern.) It was also heartening to see Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong standing alongside Samoan prime minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, reaffirming Australia’s commitments on climate. Mata'afa, who has long sought more ambitious targets from Australia, was “greatly encouraged” by Labor’s climate stance, and added a gentle dig at Australia’s former regime. Speaking to reporters, Wong said that climate was the issue she had been most itching to change, while Mata'afa wanted to make it clear that Samoa had not signed any new proposal from the Chinese government.
Bowen, meanwhile, had some promising things to say on coal, telling reports that it was ridiculous for LNP senator Matt Canavan to blame renewables for the coal-related crisis we currently find ourselves in, while blasting the former government for the energy-sector “bin fire” that Labor has been left with.
And yet. Anything positive Bowen and Wong had to say about climate hopes or “listening” to experts today was overshadowed by the news that the Albanese government will be supporting Western Australia’s Scarborough gas project – something that former WA Greens senator Scott Ludlam summarised as “same fight, different faces” when it comes to state capture by fossil-fuel interests. The project is expected to release 1.4 billion tonnes of pollution, and there is practically no evidence to back up claims that liquefied natural gas is less dirty than coal, as Guardian Australia’s Graham Readfearn writes. The approval of Scarborough will only make it harder to achieve our 2030 targets (while also threatening significant Indigenous rock art). There is no way that the “experts” Bowen promises to now be listening to would approve of the project going ahead.
Perhaps the energy minister’s door really is open, and perhaps Labor’s minds are open to change on targets – as Mullins seems to believe they are – as well as on mandates and gas projects. Bowen seems far more likely to listen to the respected former emergency leaders than he does the Greens, who Labor is intent on sidelining for political reasons. Speaking in front of reporters today, Australia’s longest-serving former fire commissioner addressed his most pointed comments on the 2030 target to Bowen. “Minister, we did say today that if you meet and beat 43 per cent, there is a trophy at the end of it for you,” Mullins said. “And that is the safety of our kids and grandkids.”
Listen to The Politics Podcast, with Rachel Withers
GOOD OPINION
Advance Australia where
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
“We’re an independent nation. We have our own unique identity and culture … it’s time that we start the serious conversation once again about what comes next for Australia after Queen Elizabeth’s reign ends.”
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Assistant Minister for the Republic Matt Thistlethwaite says he sees his initial role as one of education, with a referendum on a republic not to be held until a second Labor term.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
“Australia’s gas industry is part of a decarbonising world.”
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Resources Minister Madeleine King says gas has a role to play in decarbonisation, amid confirmation that Labor will support the multibillion-dollar Scarborough project. As environment reporter Graham Readfearn notes, there is no evidence to back up claims that liquefied natural gas is less dirty than coal.
|
|
| |
|
7am Podcast
How can you follow an act like Barnaby Joyce?
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Barnaby Joyce has been rolled as leader of the National Party and replaced by David Littleproud. Joyce says he’s not sad about it, but unlike Scott Morrison he did try to hang on to his party’s leadership after the election. So what state has Joyce left the Nationals in? Will his successor be any different? And is there a chance that Joyce could make yet another political comeback?
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
The average number of people dying each day from COVID-19 in aged-care facilities, with families increasingly opting to keep elderly relatives at home or remove them from aged care.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
THE policy
Dutton blasts Home Affairs overhaul
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Inaugural Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton is not thrilled with Labor’s decision to downsize his contentious mega-department, arguing it will make Australia “less safe”. The AFP Association has welcomed the news.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
