“The Labor Party is the leading environmental party in Australia and always has been.”
The defense of Labour’s legacy came after the Greens’ backroom ended weeks of speculation by deciding to vote in favor of the government’s bill to enshrine the target of at least 43% in emissions cuts for the 2030 under policies that include a “safeguard mechanism”. require large companies to reduce their emissions.
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating says Labor is the real party for the environment. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“This is the first round,” Bandt said at his Press Club appearance. “It’s three years into this parliament and there are a number of points where it will push to stop opening up coal and gas. We’re going to have to review the country’s environmental laws and we want a climate trigger in those laws.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Climate Minister Chris Bowen welcomed the result but rejected the Greens’ latest claim that they would not use the new climate regime to stop all new coal and gas projects.
“The climate wars may or may not be over, but they are certainly in retreat under this government. We asked for the mandate of the Australian people and we are delivering on that mandate,” Mr Bowen said.
The main concession offered to the Greens in the debate on the climate bill was to make clear in the draft bill that the government could reach a more ambitious target than 43 per cent but could not replace it with a lower target
Bandt signaled his upcoming climate demands saying he wanted the “safeguard mechanism” to enforce strict emissions rules to stop new coal and gas developments, naming the Scarborough, Beetaloo and Narrabri gas fields as the biggest problems .
When Albanese was asked if he would, the prime minister said: “No. In a word.” Bowen said the government would take feedback on the mechanism after issuing a discussion paper this month.
Meanwhile, the Coalition has refused to vote for the Labor bill and has set out plans for a nuclear power policy, although it has signaled it could commit to deeper emissions cuts than the target that he had in government: a cut of 26 to 28 percent by 2030.
Credit: Matt Golding
Keating rejected Bandt’s claim, made in a speech to the National Press Club on Wednesday, that Labor had pursued “neoliberal” policies such as privatization and engaged in “austerity” budget policy.
“This is both a lie and an insult,” Keating said.
“How could any reasonable person describe Medicare universality as an exercise in conservative neoliberalism? Or provide the entire Australian community, for every working person, with mandatory capital savings that lead to substantial retirement assets and retirement income.
“How could any reasonable person describe these mammoth changes as ‘neoliberalism,’ a word associated with people like [former British prime minister] Margaret Thatcher and [former United States president] Ronald Reagan.
“And more than that, the world-leading system of minimum wage awards, a safety net overseen by the Fair Work Commission, a creation of the Keating government. Again, hardly an exercise in neoliberalism.
“But Bandt is a limiter and a distorter of political truth.”
Keating named the Labor government’s use of the foreign affairs power in the Constitution to stop Franklin River dams in Tasmania in 1983, when Bob Hawke was prime minister, as an example of Labour’s environmental record environment
“In my case, I was the first ministerial person in the world to suggest that the Antarctic Minerals Convention should not be signed by Australia,” he said.
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“And this Australia led the way in turning Antarctica into a century-long nature park. I opened this conversation with the [former] French Prime Minister Michel Rocard and to his eternal credit, Bob Hawke locked horns with Rocard to defeat an American push to open up Antarctica to mineral and oil exploration. Antarctica was saved by Australian workers.”
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, opinion and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can subscribe to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.