Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes slams Scott Morrison’s 2050 net zero plan

Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has hit out at the Morrison Government’s Net Zero commitment using some colourful words.

Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has hit out at the Morrison Government’s Net Zero commitment, calling it “just more bulls**t”.

The Atlassian co-founder took to Twitter to slam Scott Morrison for not having a detailed plan on how Australia would reach Net Zero Emissions by 2050.

“UK 2050 plan? 21 docs. 1868 pages. Heat & building strategy. Heat pump grants. EV incentives. End gas boilers by 2035, ICE sales by 2030! Treasury reviewed. CCC approved. Pathways for every sector to 2037. Legally binding. 5 year targets. Aus? No plan. Just more bulls**t,” he tweeted.

Oh! And a PowerPoint full of terrible design choices & some clipart.

— Mike Cannon-Brookes 👨🏼‍💻🧢🇦🇺 (@mcannonbrookes) October 26, 2021

And the word “plan”. A lot.

— Mike Cannon-Brookes 👨🏼‍💻🧢🇦🇺 (@mcannonbrookes) October 26, 2021

Mr Cannon-Brookes later fired off another late-night tweet saying the Morrison plan was “not worth the paper I didn’t print it on”.

Ok. I read all 129 pages of the pamphlet. Its not worth the paper I didn’t print it on.

I understand technology damn well. This isn’t a “technology driven approach”. It’s inaction, misdirection & avoiding choices.

I’m going to bed. This is just ridiculously embarrassing.

— Mike Cannon-Brookes 👨🏼‍💻🧢🇦🇺 (@mcannonbrookes) October 26, 2021

Scott Morrison has committed to a carbon neutral future for Australia by 2050, something Mr Cannon-Brookes has long called for.

Releasing his climate change plan, he also revealed for the first time that emissions are forecast to fall by 30-35 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030.

The prediction is not a new 2030 target as climate change activists had called for but rather an updated forecast.

As expected, the big announcement was that Australia will sign on to a net zero by 2050 target.

Declaring climate change was “real” the Prime Minister said he would deliver a plan that relied on technology.

“This is real. It’s happening. We understand that,” Mr Morrison said.

He vowed that the plan is “a good plan for all Australians”, including those in the regions, adding he was “confident that it is going to secure your future, that you can plan for your future with confidence”.

“And we’re backing that up by ensuring that we won’t just be measuring the fact that we’ll be reducing emissions, we’ll be measuring the fact that we’re creating jobs, we’ll be measuring the fact that we’re boosting incomes, we’ll be measuring the fact that we are preserving Australians’ livelihoods, right across the country, because that is also one of the key measures of performance and success with this plan,” Mr Morrison said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has committed to a carbon neutral future for Australia by 2050. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Bianca De Marchi

The plan will see more than $20 billion invested in “low-emissions technologies” by 2030, including soil carbon sequestration, production of low-emissions steel, and using “clean hydrogen” to lower fuel emissions.

A “new priority” for the Federal Government to deliver “ultra-low-cost solar” power below $15 per megawatt-hour is also included.

While the 26 to 28 per cent reduction target remains, new data projections “will see us exceed our 2030 target with emissions reduction of up to 35 per cent by 2030”, the PM said.

“We said there’s the mark, but we can meet it, and we can beat it. And we will, and the world will be able to see us achieving that. And they’ll be able to take record of that,” he said.

“Because what Australians are doing now is getting results, and they’re going to keep getting results, and they’re going to keep getting better results.

“So we will honour our commitment to the Australian people. That’s what I took to them. That’s what they approved. And that’s what we’re doing. And we will continue to work to do even better, as part of our plan.”

Existing priority technologies, enabled by the plan, “get us 85 per cent of the way there, and we will close the gap through emerging technologies”.

Consumers choosing clean technologies will “drive sharp reductions in emissions across all sectors”.

Repeatedly grilled over when Australians will be able to see the plan – and the carbon emissions modelling it’s based on – Mr Morrison demurred, saying it “will be released in due course”.

“When do we see the plan?” he was asked.

“Today is about the plan. We will be releasing modelling at another time,” he said.

“All of our policies will come out before the next election. In particular, there will be a budget next year, [it] is our intention, but either way all of our policies we will make decisions about that closer to that time.

“All of our policy, investments in the regions and additional investments in a whole range of areas will be outlined as they have been outlined in these many years since the last election.

“It will all be out there for everyone to read about what we are investing in and how we are investing in it because at the end of the day, now that we are passed the by, when and if, and now that we are into the how, what this is a real choice of now is the economic plan of the Government – the Liberals and the Nationals – to steer Australia through what will be a challenging time with the global response to climate change, and how we intend to realise those opportunities.”

Mr Morrison will confirm the government’s net zero position when he attends the United Nations COP26 climate conference in Glasgow next week.

‘This is a political scam, not a serious plan’

Labor Leader Anthony Albanese slammed the plan.

“Scott Morrison left if to the last possible minute to outline a scam that leaves everything to the last possible minute,” he said.

Criticism of the PM’s “unique” plan came thick and fast, however, with Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO David Ritter leading the charge.

In a strongly-worded statement following the announcement, Mr Ritter said that “the world should not be fooled for one second”.

“This is a political scam, not a serious plan. What we saw today from Morrison was effectively just another fig leaf for Australia to try and hustle the international community by getting away with doing nothing,” he said.

“As we saw from last week’s leaked documents, Australia has a history of diplomatic obstruction in international climate talks and today’s announcement is just more of the same.”

Mr Ritter called on world leaders to condemn the Morrison Government’s “do-nothing approach”, saying it has simply “repackaged its current weak climate approach and slapped a ‘net-zero’ sticker on it without making any substantive changes”.

While Australian Conservation Foundation CEO Kelly O’Shanassy welcomed the fact the PM “has finally committed Australia to a target that other nations signed up to years ago”, “ he “has so far announced a plan to have a plan”.

“It is short-changing Australians by refusing to join other nations in at least having emissions by 2030 … Unless the government sets the wheels in motion to cut our emissions in half by 2030, it is making climate change worse and turning its back on the opportunities,” she added.

Originally published as Billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes slams Scott Morrison’s 2050 net zero plan