A fortnight out from the start of the parliamentary year, the government looks in a state of disarray. Its chief problem is not lack of progress but an inability to communicate what it is doing and why.
The government has achieved important legislative reforms. It is implementing vital policy in areas ranging from border security and counter-terrorism to welfare and medical treatment. However, its capacity to promote progress made is hindered by a lack of clear strategy.
The Coalition’s approach to climate change is a case in point. It is struggling to present a united front on climate change because there is no clear party position on it. It is floundering because it has failed to develop a clear strategy in the wake of the national energy guarantee. Labor is redefining its climate policy around the target of net zero emissions by 2050. The same goal is supported by the UN and indicates Labor will adopt an internationalist position on climate politics ahead of the next election.
The decision offers ample opportunity for the Coalition to create brand differentiation with Labor and the Greens by adopting a nationalist position.
Scott Morrison has already begun the work of making global green policy a more local affair. He has redirected funds to Pacific Islands countries for climate change mitigation as China expands its influence through the Belt and Road Initiative. He has highlighted the effect of pollution on the local environment. Citing scientific research, he said in 30 years the weight of plastics in the ocean was predicted to exceed that of fish and we had a duty to keep the seas clean. The Prime Minister also has dedicated funds for technological advances in recycling.
The government is right to broaden the scope of the climate change debate from carbon to pollution more generally. Most people would agree that having clean air, clear water and good food is the best indicator of a healthy environment. Focusing on those goals makes sense and makes the complicated globalist politics of climate change a more local affair.
Yet the government is not capitalising on progress by creating a point of difference from Labor with a new strategy on climate change. Instead, it looks retrograde as Labor and the Greens unite with a zero emissions’ target.
The new parliamentary year will likely begin with debate on climate change. The green-left independent MP Zali Steggall has support from crossbenchers Rebekha Sharkie and Helen Haines for proposing a bill to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050. The Greens will continue to politicise bushfires by supposing they are a result of the government’s climate change approach.
However, Australians voted for the Coalition policy to balance climate actions with cost of living and national prosperity. A significant part of the government plan for economic recovery is to make Australia a debt-free nation. We cannot commit to increased government expenditure on climate experiments while paying billions in interest on the national debt.
The Prime Minister has said recent natural disasters could lead to a broader range of responses such as hazard reduction, better water infrastructure and indigenous burning practices. That is fine, but we need the plan of action. For more than a year, the Coalition has been urged by friends and foes alike to develop a coherent policy to supersede the NEG. Conservatives want Australia’s environment and resources plan to be practical, measurable and local. They are seeking to measure climate policy by how it serves the national interest instead of globalist aims.
Morrison has rejected some calls to withdraw Australia from the Paris Agreement but indicated a new approach to environmental policy. Thus far, it has been piecemeal. The government has no unifying narrative on climate change, resources and the natural environment. As a result, it is drowned out and looks internally divided when natural disasters strike.
Much of what Morrison has done on climate change is sound, but his team needs to design a coherent strategy and policy to create a point of difference. The government should capitalise on its track record of developing policy in the national interest with a plan for resource independence, energy security, rational conservation, and reliable and affordable energy. It can retain the emissions target it took to the election last year while designing separate targets for each strategy adapted to local context.
As the climate change debate went global, power was taken out of the hands of the people and transferred to technical experts removed from local conditions. The Coalition should reject the globalist approach to environmentalism.
The Prime Minister does best when he cites sound research on the causes of environmental damage in our region, such as plastics pollution in the ocean and the need for better recycling. The government should highlight the particular needs of our region while formulating a new national plan with practical measures that enable Australians to participate in “greening” the nation.
It could shift the politics of climate change by showing how simple local actions matter. For example, Australia has been identified as one of the few nations capable of creating a carbon sink. With proper precautions about managing fuel load and hazard reduction, Australians could use tree-planting to create wildlife corridors in their neighbourhoods, help conserve indigenous flora and fauna, restore the soil and clean the air. Simple actions done en masse can be the key to reversing environmental damage.
Labor, the Greens and independents are filling the vacuum created by government policy paralysis on the environment. Yet as the late philosopher Roger Scruton observed, conservation is “the most vivid instance in the world as we know it of that partnership between the dead, the living and the unborn that (Edmund) Burke defended as the conservative archetype”.
The Coalition needs to return to basics by restoring the spirit of democracy to conservation. The future of the natural environment does not belong to doomsday prophets, technocrats or globalists. It is everyday people planting seeds, conserving nature and giving shelter to native life who will make Australia green again.