Joel Fitzgibbon wants Labor’s energy spokesman Mark Butler to be dumped
Labor MPs have turned on Joel Fitzgibbon after he quit the party’s frontbench over climate policy and now the rogue MP is calling for the sacking of his colleague.
NSW
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Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon has sensationally called for the party’s climate change and energy spokesman to be dumped in favour of a “fresh approach”.
The rogue MP – who moved to the backbench on Tuesday after months of freelancing on energy policy – has now called for Mark Butler to be dumped from shadow cabinet.
“(Mr Butler) has been in that portfolio for seven years. We’ve lost two elections. We’ve had two climate change and energy policies that have not been embraced by the Australian people,” Mr Fitzgibbon told Sky News.
“We need an advocate now that the community and industry can trust.”
Mr Fitzgibbon said Mr Butler could be moved to “another senior portfolio”.
“He’s a very smart guy. There are plenty of things he could do. But we need a new advocate bringing a fresh face and a fresh approach, somebody who can reach out to both the community and industry and say, hey, the new person’s in town,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
Federal Labor’s war of words over climate policy heated up yesterday, with a senior frontbencher publicly blasting Mr Fitzgibbon as “out of step” with the party and the Australian people.
As unions called for Mr Fitzgibbon’s replacement as resources spokesman to continue to stand up for the mining sector, senior Labor MP Mark Dreyfus said Mr Fitzgibbon’s views were not widely shared among the party.
The Hunter MP “does not represent more than a handful of views in the Labor Party,” Mr Dreyfus told the ABC. “I’d suggest the Australian community also disagree with his strongly held views,”
But Mr Fitzgibbon said he “was not prepared to allow the cheesecloth brigade” to use Joe Biden’s US election win to argue for “even more ambitious” climate change policy. “We keep overreaching and losing elections,” he said, while repeating his public support for Labor leader Anthony Albanese.
Unions hope Chifley MP Ed Husic, who replaced Mr Fitzgibbon as Labor’s agriculture and resources spokesman, will continue to stand up for the mining industry.
The CFMEU’s Mining and Energy Division general president Tony Maher backed Mr Fitzgibbon for supporting miners.
“He ruffled a few feathers but political parties should be able to cope with that,” he said.
Mr Maher spoke to Mr Husic yesterday, saying: “I think Ed is a person of substance and I look forward to working with him.”
Labor’s internal brawl over climate policy echoes the split between some inner city and regional voters on the issue.
Kenny Hardie, a 61-year-old miner from Singleton, backed Mr Fitzgibbon’s position on resources “100 per cent”.
“If it wasn’t for coal you’d see a lot more unemployment,” he said.
Mr Hardie has worked in coalmining since 1979, and said the industry has “really helped the Singleton area” particularly amid COVID lockdowns.
He wanted federal Labor to do more to support blue collar workers, declaring the party “really lost its way with the workers”.
Singleton Earth Works owner Bernie Wood said the coal industry amounts for about 95 per cent of his company’s revenue.
But Labor voter Feather Van Heumen, from Newtown, who said she voted Labor at the last election, did not see the value of coal.
“There is a lot of money that is being put into coal and other industries that is going to be taken out of Australia anyway,” she said.
The 27-year-old rejected Mr Fitzgibbon’s argument that Labor had lost touch with blue collar workers over its climate policies.
“I think it would be fair to say that they’re looking out for the best interest of big business,” she said.
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