New Greens leader Adam Bandt blasts government on climate
Adam Bandt has used his first speech as leader of the Greens to attack the government’s climate change policies, claiming they would cause “three times as many deaths” as this summer’s bushfire crisis.
National
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New Greens leader Adam Bandt has used his first speech to accuse big businesses of “killing people”.
The MP for Melbourne also called for a Green New Deal, which would include a public education system that was “genuinely free” and a “manufacturing renaissance” that would see Australia become a renewable energy superpower.
The 47-year-old former industrial relations lawyer has held the inner-city seat of Melbourne seat for a decade and becomes the first Greens leader in the House of Representatives after Senator Richard Di Natale’s surprise resignation on Monday.
In an aggressive start, he attacked the government’s climate change policies, claiming they would cause “three times as many deaths” as this summer’s bushfire crisis, which has already claimed 33 lives.
“Big business that makes its money by killing people and endangering people’s safety should be worried,” he said in his first press conference as leader.
Mr Bandt claimed Prime Minister Scott Morrison had Australia “on track for three degrees of global warming” and the Coalition government would cause death and suffering.
“These catastrophic bushfires have happened at one degree,” he said.
“Scott Morrison’s plan is for at least three times as much pain, three times as much suffering and three times as many deaths at least because that is what is in store for us if we keep on going the way the government has us going.”
The South Australian-born leader also said while he was interested in working with the Labor Opposition, he could not while their policy positions were similar to the Government’s.
“Labor keeps agreeing with the Liberals on coal and tax cuts for millionaires,” he told the Herald Sun.
“We’ll provide a real alternative.”
Labor leader Anthony Albanese told the ABC: “Adam Bandt’s rhetoric is more extreme than Richard Di Natale’s rhetoric was, but we’ll wait and see how that plays out.’’
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“Being engaged in abuse … in my view, isn’t a great way to bring people with you,’’ he said.
The Greens spilled their co-deputy leader positions on Tuesday, with Senator Larissa Waters returned to the position, along with Nick McKim, who defeated Mehreen Faruqi and Sarah Hanson-Young.
Mr Bandt also told the Herald Sun he wantedto turn Victoria into a haven for companies who want “cheap, clean, renewable energy”.
Originally published as New Greens leader Adam Bandt blasts government on climate