New Greens leader Adam Bandt’s climate deaths claims ‘abuse’

Greens leader stands by claims that PM’s climate agenda is killing people as Anthony Albanese says it’s ‘abuse’.

Adam Bandt, accompanied by Greens deputy Senate leader Larissa Waters. Picture: Gary Ramage

Anthony Albanese has lashed Adam Bandt for “engaging in abuse” after the new Greens leader claimed Scott Morrison’s climate change agenda would lead to “three times as many deaths” as the 2019-20 bushfire crisis.

The member for the inner-city seat of Melbourne also accused big business of “killing people and ­endangering people’s safety”, triggering warnings from the mining industry that “action, not anger” was needed to address climate change.

Mr Bandt has today stood by his accusations that the Prime Minister and big business are responsible for “killing people.”

POLITICSNOW: PM ‘won’t be bullied on climate’

“My point is that Scott Morrison, when he says that we are on track to meet our emissions targets, we are on track for more than three times as much warming as we’ve witnessed so far,” he told ABC News.

“And that means more than three times as much devastation. And I will be holding him to account for those climate failures.”

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox challenged the Greens to “disprove the stereotype they’re indifferent to ­industry and the jobs and values it creates”.

Declaring he wanted to “turf this government out”, Mr Bandt — who was elected unopposed as Greens leader on Tuesday following Richard Di Natale’s surprise resignation — said Australia was on track to warm by 3C and the biggest barrier to climate action was coal. He was relying on a World Meteorological Organisation report that found even if all countries met emissions reduction targets they had set, the world would warm by up to 3.4C.

“Big business, that makes its money by killing people and endangering people’s safety, should be worried. Anyone who makes a profit by putting people’s lives at risk should be worried because their days are gone,” Mr Bandt said in his first news conference as ­leader.

“If you’re a coal company or a gas company or an oil company then our message to you is very simple — your business model is unsustainable. Your business model is predicated on threatening human life and they have to go. They have to go in a way that looks after workers and that looks after communities, but they have to go.”

Mr Bandt, who said he was happy with the description of him as a “Greens social democrat”, said the country needed a “carbon price plus” to reduce emissions.

That included a carbon price, an “orderly plan” to phase out exporting coal and its domestic use by 2030, transforming the national electricity grid so it became more interconnected and extending the renewable energy target.

“Scott Morrison has got us on track for three degrees of global warming and that is a catastrophe,” he said. “You can’t have it both ways, you can’t say you accept the science of climate change but then refuse to accept what the science is that you need to do.

“These catastrophic bushfires have happened at one degree, Scott Morrison’s plan is for at least three times as much pain, three times as much suffering and three times as many deaths at least, because that is what is in store for us if we keep on going the way the government has us going.”

Mr Albanese rejected Mr Bandt’s rhetoric as federal parliament on Tuesday paused to ­remember the 33 people who died during the 2019-20 bushfires.

“I don’t think that you advance your cause, your objective, by coming up with strong rhetoric that has people who agree with you agreeing with you even stronger,” the Opposition Leader told the ABC.

“Being engaged in abuse such as the quote that you just used (about the Prime Minister), in my view, isn’t a great way to bring people with you.”

Minerals Council of Australia CEO Tania Constable said the global transition to low-emissions technologies depended on the metals and raw materials provided by the mining sector. “Accelerating investment in low-emissions technologies such as carbon capture and storage and nuclear energy is crucial in meeting the Paris Agreement’s climate goals,” she said.

While Mr Bandt said he would sit down with Mr Morrison if invited to find common ground on climate change, he wanted to know what the Prime Minister’s plan was to get out of coal and reduce emissions. He would not put a number on how many lower house seats he hoped the Greens would win at the next election — Mr Bandt is the sole Greens MP in the House of Representatives — and did not ­entertain the idea that Greens MPs could be ministers in a future Labor-Greens government, saying he did not want to get ahead of himself.

Under a “green new deal” Mr Bandt outlined on Tuesday, the party would ensure all dental care was paid for by Medicare, that public education was “genuinely free”, including by targeting voluntary public school fees, and that a “manufacturing renaissance” led to Australia becoming a renewable energy superpower.

Mr Bandt was speaking alongside co-deputy leader Larissa ­Waters, who will also be Senate leader, and Nick McKim, who defeated Sarah Hanson-Young and Mehreen Faruqi in a ballot to become the party’s second co-deputy leader and deputy Senate leader.

Congrats to @AdamBandt, @larissawaters and @NickMcKim – the @Greens’ new leadership team! They’ll be fantastic voices for our grassroots movement as we tackle the climate crisis, corrupt politics and rising inequality.

— Mehreen Faruqi (@MehreenFaruqi) February 3, 2020