Green groups tell Adam Bandt: do not make us a pariah

The Australian Conservation Foundation has warned the Greens not to block Labor’s bill enshrining a 43 per cent carbon emissions reduction target in law.

Geoff Cousins says it is not the time for the Greens and Climate 200-backed independents to be ‘dancing around with clever politics trying to get the target lifted by a few per cent’. Picture: John Feder

The Australian Conservation Foundation has warned the Greens not to block Labor’s bill enshrining a 43 per cent carbon emissions reduction target in law, as leading environmentalist Geoff Cousins says Adam Bandt risks the nation’s global reputation if he votes the government’s climate package down.

Greenpeace has also endorsed legislating Labor’s target as an “important first step in tackling Australia’s climate pollution”.

ACF chief executive Kelly O’Shanassy said the group “endorses the proposal to enshrine the 2030 target in law” but is also calling on Labor to include a “ratchet mechanism” allowing a government to increase the ­ambition over time.

With Mr Bandt threatening to use his numbers in the Senate to block the bill, Ms O’Shanassy said it was “important that the Greens and the independents play a constructive role with the Labor government … The 43 per cent target acts as a floor, not a ceiling, and legislating it will help to hold this and any future government to account.

“We’ve got to end the climate wars, we do not have time to ­scuttle progress.

“Let’s get the target enshrined in law and then put in the hard yards to go well beyond 43 per cent this decade – as the science says we must do.”

Mr Cousins, a former ACF president who led a campaign against the Adani coalmine, said it was not the time for the Greens and Climate 200-backed independents to be “dancing around with clever politics trying to get the target lifted by a few per cent”.

He said blocking the bill could turn international investors away from putting capital into green projects, and it was important the package passed through parliament quickly to change global perceptions that Australia was a “pariah”.

“Imagine if the legislation goes into the parliament and gets rejected, the headline will be: ‘Same old stuff from Australia,’ ” Mr Cousins said.

Adam Bandt says ‘the Greens are willing to work constructively with Labor, but it seems Labor’s approach is “take it or leave it”’. Picture: Sarah Marshall

“That is not what we want, it ought not to be what the Greens want and it most certainly shouldn’t be what any of the independents want since most of them got elected mainly on climate policies. Yes it’s a target that is well below what many of us would want, including me.

“But you put that in the bank, you bank it quick smart because it’s a very important sign that things have changed.”

Greenpeace director Kate Smolski said enshrining the 43 per cent target in law could be an “important foundation to build on”.

“We’d hope all political parties and independents will work together to realise a safer climate future for Australia,” she said.

Ms Smolski said Labor needed to increase its climate ambition over time, including banning new gas projects.

On Wednesday, Mr Bandt accused Anthony Albanese of being the one who was not willing to work constructively on climate change legislation.

“The Greens are willing to work constructively with Labor, but it seems Labor’s approach is ‘take it or leave it’,” Mr Bandt said.

“Labor risks letting their idea of the perfect be the enemy of the good.

“This ‘my way or the highway’ approach from Labor is setting Australia up for a very long three years.

“The Greens want to see a stop to new coal and gas projects, as do the Pacific Islanders, the UN, the International Energy Agency and the world’s scientists.

“Even Labor’s weak climate targets will be blown if they proceed with new gas projects like the Beetaloo Basin, which will lift greenhouse pollution by up to 13 per cent.”

Wentworth independent Allegra Spender said the Pacific Island Forum showed “we must implement policies to achieve at least a 50 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030”.

Mr Cousins also hit out at independent MPs for threatening to disrupt the government’s agenda over cuts to staffing allocations, saying it should be one of the first issues investigated by the incoming federal anti-corruption agency.

“That is really completely unethical. And maybe more than that, because it’s a direct conflict of interest,” he said.

“In a governance issue, you can’t possibly link a personal benefit … to your responsibility as a parliamentarian to pass legislation that’s good for the country.”