Go big on climate plans, Labor MPs tell Albanese, as net zero fight rages

Labor MPs are pushing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to go big on the government’s next climate target as leading economist professor Ross Garnaut called for a resurrection of the carbon tax to kickstart Australia’s ailing green-energy transition.

The political fight over the government’s climate targets intensified on Tuesday, as Climate Change Authority chief Matt Kean declared calls from the Nationals for Australia to abandon net zero were a “disgrace” and a “sideshow”.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen faced questions in parliament and outside over climate targets on Tuesday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Garnaut, a former senior adviser to several Australian governments, said in a speech at the Clean Energy Summit in Sydney that Australia’s transition to a green economy was on a “path to comprehensive failure”.

“Fundamentally, Australia is currently on a trajectory to miss its renewable targets because of low investment and output in grid-scale solar and wind,” he said.

“Not by a little, but by a big margin.”

He said the most efficient way to put the effort back on track was by putting a price on carbon.

On Tuesday, four Labor MPs including Jerome Laxale, a co-patron of the party’s environmental network, called on the government to be as ambitious as practically possible in its next emissions reduction target, due to be set within coming weeks for the year 2035.

Addressing the same conference, Matt Kean, the former NSW treasurer and energy minister who now serves as the chair of the Climate Change Authority, described calls from Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce and senator Matt Canavan for Australia to dump its net zero effort entirely as a “disgrace” and a “stunt”.

“You look at the Barnaby Joyce sideshow in Australia, and that’s actually an argument to jack up electricity bills for mums and dads and businesses in this country, and it should be called out for what it is: a disgrace,” he said at a panel at the event.

The Climate Change Authority is expected to give critical advice to the government over the coming weeks over what emission reduction target it should set for 2035, as is required by the Paris treaty.

Some Nationals MPs, including Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack are calling for the net zero target to be dumped entirely.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The authority is expected to recommend a 2035 emission reduction target somewhere between 65 per cent and 75 per cent. Kean has said any Australian target should be “ambitious, responsible and achievable”.

Last week this masthead reported the business sector was divided on the issue, with some members of the Business Council of Australia calling for a target in the 50s and others in 70s.

The Australian Academy of Science, the Climate Council and the Australian Council of Social Services have backed a goal of reaching net zero by 2035 rather than 2050 as the only way to hold warming to the Paris goal of close to 1.5 degrees, while unions including the AMWU, the ASU and the ETU have called for reductions in line with the climate science.

Laxale, the member for Bennelong in Sydney’s north, said the party should adopt a goal that was “high and achievable”, comments echoed by Chisholm MP Carina Garland.

Macarthur MP Mike Freelander said the message from the election clearly demonstrated that voters wanted to continue with the green-energy transition, urging Bowen to be “as ambitious as we possibly can” while trying to keep prices down.

Senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah said that no matter the target, the government should do better at “describing the accompanying job opportunities for our kids” in green energy.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen met the UN’s chief climate diplomat Simon Stiell on Tuesday, as he visited Canberra to urge Australia to adopt an ambitious target. On Monday, he said in a speech that the matter would be a defining issue for the nation and urged ambition. “Bog standard is beneath you,” he said.

After the meeting on Tuesday, Bowen said he welcomed Stiell’s comments, but added that targets were more easily set than met. He did not address Garnaut’s comments.

Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie said Stiell’s comments reflected global expectations that Australia would announce an ambitious target, not only as part of its fair contribution to stabilising the climate, but as it sought to host next year’s UN climate talks.

The Coalition tried to move past its internal fracas over the 2050 net zero target by turning the heat on Labor’s renewables policies on Tuesday.

Energy spokesman Dan Tehan leapt on a key CSIRO report, released on Tuesday, that stated a key modelling tool used to justify its forecasts on the costs of renewables was “not suitable for general release”.

Tehan accused Labor of secrecy on its modelling and the cost of a scheme, which it expanded by 25 per cent on Tuesday, that helps fund renewable projects.

Presser on Labor’s plans for the 2035 target, Bowen said the government had to be mature.

“It is very important a target be able to be achieved, it is not a useful contribution to the debate to set a target without outlining how the country can actually achieve that target. Yes, ambition is very important but so is achievability,” he said.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley was asked repeatedly if she supported net zero in a press conference in Parliament House on Tuesday, largely ducking the question and emphasising the need for an energy policy that kept prices down at the same time as curbing climate change.

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