Davos 2020: Climate critics are wrong, says Matthias Cormann

Mathias Cormann uses speech to reject suggestions the government isn’t taking climate action seriously enough.

Mathias Cormann listens to Donald Trump’s opening address, as Greta Thunberg listens behind him. Picture: AFP.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann has declared global perceptions of Australia’s climate action are “false” as he defended both the coal industry and US President Donald Trump in front of world leaders at the Davos summit.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Senator Cormann fought off suggestions from Australian artist Lynette Wallworth and a retired firefighter that the government was not taking climate change seriously enough.

Senator Cormann’s defence of the Morrison government’s commitment to climate change action, which has been under increasing pressure since the December-January bushfires, came hours after Mr Trump told Davos not to listen to “prophets of doom”.

“Australia absolutely does its bit. The proposition circulated by some, that we are not committed to effective action on climate change, is false,” Mr Cormann said in Switzerland.

“It’s an assertion that suits the narrative of some commentators but it’s not accurate.”

Scott Morrison has pledged to focus on climate change resilience but said he will not shift to radical emission reductions targets or policies like a price on carbon.

Senator Cormann gave a strident defence of the Coalition’s decision to scrap a price on carbon, saying such a policy would send jobs overseas and make it harder to export comparatively cleaner energy sources into developing countries: “We’ve always got to make sure we don’t have preconceived ideas (about) what blanket policy propositions might deliver.

“Carbon taxes have been mentioned … a carbon tax in Australia would actually make it harder for Australia to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.”

Anthony Albanese has refused to say whether Labor will take a 45 per cent emissions reduction target by 2030, which was the party’s policy before May last year, to the next election. The government’s 2030 target is to reduce emissions by 26 per cent on 2005 levels.

The Opposition Leader said on Wednesday Labor’s climate policy would “always be more ambitious” no matter the final figure.

“Labor will always be more ambitious than the Coalition. History tells us that the Coalition have been very complacent,” he said.

“They have sat back whether it is about the economy, or about emissions, or about the upcoming bushfire crisis, which people could see was coming. They are defined by their complacency. And I think that we do need strong action on climate change.”

As Labor works to win back coalmining seats, Senator Cormann defended Australia’s coal industry and said not every mine was “bad for the environment”.

“There is a global demand for coal and if it’s not met by cleaner Australian coal it will be met by comparatively dirtier coal from other sources and the world environment will be worse off,” he said.

Senator Cormann stressed the huge size of the Australian continent and its history of extreme weather: “Climate change is making things worse but we have to keep it in perspective. Australia has always been a country that has suffered extreme weather.”