At first, the Greens leader declared the party’s position as a red line before gradually retreating and pledging to work “constructively” and in “good faith” with Chris Bowen in negotiations over Labor’s signature climate policy.
After weeks of obfuscation and red herrings, and a last-minute intervention by Greens icon Bob Brown, Bandt on Monday announced his party room would back the new regime forcing the 215 biggest-emitting facilities to cut emissions by nearly 5 per cent each year out to 2030.
As other cabinet ministers struggle to strike deals with Senate crossbenchers, Bowen has emerged as the Greens whisperer. The Climate Change and Energy Minister got the Greens over the line without committing to stopping new coal and gas projects.
Since last year’s election, Bowen has sealed three big deals with the left-wing party to legislate the government’s 43 per cent emissions reduction by 2030 target, gas price caps and safeguard mechanism.
On each occasion, the Greens claimed hard-fought wins that forced the government into submission. The truth is, the deals largely mirror policies and measures Bowen was already planning or supported.
It’s not just on climate that the Greens have acted as the Prime Minister’s rubberstamp in the Senate. Despite raising public concerns, they folded on the $15bn National Reconstruction Fund and Indigenous voice to parliament referendum.
The $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund, which the government wants to pass through the Senate this week, is the Greens’ final opportunity before the May 9 budget to stick to their guns.
At some stage before the 2025 election, the Greens will have to pick a fight with the government or face accusations from supporters that they lack courage to fight for their radical social, economic and climate policies.
Albanese, who has spent a lifetime fighting the Greens in his inner-Sydney electorate of Grayndler, needs the Greens’ 11 senators and two other crossbenchers to push his policy agenda through the parliament when the Coalition is opposed. Other crossbenchers are frustrated by the Greens’ high-profile horse-trading. Jacqui Lambie last week scalded the Greens for “crying wolf” in negotiations.
Industry chiefs are privately concerned about unintended consequences of some of the Greens 13 amendments and are trusting Bowen to deliver a realistic and supportive scheme that protects jobs and regional economies.
Amid warnings from the ACCC and AEMO that gas fields must be unlocked to avoid energy shortfalls, APPEA chief executive Samantha McCulloch lashed the deal for making “Australia’s climate-change targets harder and more costly to meet”. The oil and gas lobby chief said the Labor-Greens deal ignores “the central role of natural gas in meeting Australia’s climate goals”.
Bandt’s claim that the Greens have “stopped many of the 116 new coal and gas projects in the pipeline from going ahead” was questioned by resources sector sources who say a vast majority weren’t going ahead for various reasons.
While big gas projects could potentially be undermined by the Labor-Greens deal, suggestions that existing coal and gas facilities won’t have access to government funding support is rejected by the resources sector.
Prominent private-sector figures are fuming at the Coalition – the architects of the current safeguard mechanism – for dealing itself out of negotiations and allowing the Greens to hijack the government’s scheme.
Minerals Council of Australia chief executive Tania Constable, representing companies including BHP, Rio Tinto, Whitehaven and Glencore, said the “Greens rhetoric is concerning”
“It is extremely unhelpful and deters investment in Australia,” Constable said.
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Adam Bandt spent three months telling the Australian people and Greens supporters he would not back Anthony Albanese’s safeguard mechanism unless the government banned new coal and gas projects.