Anthony Albanese vows Labor will legislate net-zero emissions

Anthony Albanese will enshrine a net-zero emissions by 2050 target in legislation if Labor wins the election.

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese in Brisbane on Wednesday. Picture: Dan Peled

Anthony Albanese will enshrine a net-zero emissions by 2050 target in legislation if Labor wins the election as the opposition moves to capitalise on government divisions on long-term climate goals.

The Opposition Leader attacked the government for rejecting a legislated net-zero emissions target after Nationals senator Matt Canavan vowed to cross the floor on the issue.

“You can’t have a target unless it’s legislated,” Mr Albanese said. “Unless it’s legislated, it’s an aspiration, it’s a theory.”

Labor has committed to a carbon neutral target by 2050 and criticised Scott Morrison for not officially embracing the deadline ahead of a possible election this year.

Last week, the Prime Minister said he wanted Australia to reach net-zero emissions as soon as possible, preferably by 2050.

In a speech to the Rural Press Club of Queensland on Thursday, Senator Canavan will declare that committing to a target of carbon neutrality by 2050 would “make any attempt to grow Australian manufacturing impossible … Net zero might slide off the tongue but it is a lot easier to say than do,” he will say.

“The enormity of the task is not matched by the rigour of the analysis into how we will actually achieve this. Perhaps this is because people would prefer not even to look at how high this mountain is before starting to climb it.”

Senator Canavan will say economic modelling from New Zealand shows a net-zero emissions target on that country will reduce the size of its economy by 10 to 20 per cent, while employment would fall by 2 to 4 per cent.

“If that happened in Australia, 200,000 to 400,000 people would lose their jobs,” Senator Canavan will say. “The economic impact on Australia would be bigger, given we have large coal and gas industries, as well as agriculture. We should commission detailed, economic modelling of the cost of net-zero emissions before there are any moves to sign up to such a commitment.”

He will say the main way Australia had lowered emissions was through sacrifices made by the farming sector. “Putting aside offsets … Australia’s carbon emissions have gone up over the past few decades, not down. The only reason we can say we have met our Kyoto climate commitments is because we have reduced land clearing from 700,000ha a year to just 50,000ha.”

Mr Albanese said the government was becoming increasingly isolated on the global stage by not committing to a 2050 target.

“The National Farmers Federation has one, the Business Council of Australia has one, every state and territory has one. The rest of the world, all our major trading partners have one, everyone except for the Coalition. Scott Morrison is increasingly isolated on this issue,” he said.

“When you look at the crab walk away from his climate denialism, then what we have is just all smirk and mirrors. Until there is actually a bit of substance, then we don’t have anything to respond to when it comes to the ­Coalition policy.”