Scott Morrison must attend COP26 in Glasgow and take package of carbon reduction measures

Prime Minister Scott Morrison must attend Glasgow climate summit. Picture: Gary Ramage/NCA NewsWire

When Barnaby Joyce took on the leadership of the National Party last June, he could never have conceived that in October 2021 he would become a vital linchpin in the defence of Australia.

For Australian defence reasons it is absolutely vital that our Prime Minister Scott Morrison not only attends the Glasgow environmental summit, but carries a package of carbon reduction measures in line with what he discussed with US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Last month, Morrison put together the remarkable AUKUS arrangement whereby the US and the UK will share nuclear technology with Australia in an alliance to enable Australia to construct and operate nuclear submarines.

The pact was not an arrangement put together over a long period of negotiation but rather by the willingness of three democratically elected leaders to come together given the China threat. History tells us that until such deals are fully detailed and consummated, they can easily fall into the mire of inaction.

Biden and Johnson are far more emotionally involved in the climate emergency and the Glasgow summit than AUKUS. While Morrison kept climate and submarine negotiations separate, the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, thanked Morrison for his leadership in climate change. He clearly made climate statements that pleased the US administration.

If Morrison is not in Glasgow, Australia’s standing in the US and UK will slump. The French will put incredible pressure on both our partners to upset the deal.

Both the Americans and the UK expect Morrison to be there and, Barnaby, it is you and your party that is risking our defence.

I fully understand why members of your party do not want to commit to further carbon cutbacks by 2030 – because it will rob them of votes in north Queensland and other National Party electorates at the next election. Many in the electorates argue that even if Australia stopped all carbon emissions it would have no impact on the global scene because of the increase in emissions by China and India. The Nationals ask: “Why should Australia sacrifice jobs when other countries are not?”

But, Barnaby, never underestimate the people in north Queensland and other parts of National Party support base. They have Australia’s long-term interests at heart. Once they understand that, for Australia, Glasgow is a national security issue they will understand.

In addition, while I can understand why opposing greater carbon cuts is popular in many electorates, the global game has changed.

If we do not move with leading countries then we may face clamps on our trade and those clamps will be led by Western countries possibly including our AUKUS partners, the UK and US. That’s why most of industry is on board with the 50 per cent emission reductions by 2030 proposed by the US.

If we don’t go with Biden and Johnson on climate then it will be very difficult politically for them to deliver AUKUS.

Barnaby, you must make sure but Morrison is on the plane and delivering commitments for 2030 that roughly matched the Americans and the British.

And Morrison actually has a wonderful story to tell. Australia via Andrew Forrest is going to be a world leader in green steel. Some of our cement producers plan to substantially reduce the carbon emissions in cement production, which is a major contributor.

We have installed wind and solar farms around the nation and a great many households have put solar panels on their roofs. And we have only just started.

If the Victorian Premier is replaced then the 2030 targets become a breeze. Victoria has immense reserves of deep onshore gas that can be made carbon-neutral. The gas is dissolved in water and that water can be used to grow trees and vegetation to absorb the equivalent carbon. The carbon-neutral gas can replace Victorian brown coal which is one of the nation’s biggest carbon-emission producers. It’s true the Exxon reserve estimates need to checked, but that will not take long. The gas is cheap and no other country has such an advantage.

Barnaby does not have to argue that his members’ ideas on carbon are wrong – merely that the defence of our nation overrides all other considerations.

Footnote: the ALP now believes that the split between Morrison and Barnaby over carbon will deliver them at the next election the biggest victory they have had for many years. As a result they will be in power for at least two terms. Sensing victory, the ALP has neutralised controversial tax policies.

Under the heading, ‘‘The trouble with the ‘return JobKeeper’ push’’ late last month I described how the ALP shadow ministers were moving towards a form of retrospective taxation by setting criteria that would make the legitimate recipients of JobKeeper return the money.

When deputy leader Richard Marles understood the implications of where they were heading he hit the idea of returning legitimate JobKeeper money and retrospective taxation on the head.

If Morrison does not go to Glasgow then business must get ready for an ALP government. An ALP prime minister and defence minister will take the first available plane to the US and apologise. And Barnaby, in Australia you will get the blame.