Climate action no interest to Greens, says Joel Fitz­gibbon

A Labor frontbencher claims the Greens have ‘no interest’ in tackling climate change except to use it as a political weapon.

‘Like the Libs and Nats on the right, members of the left-wing Greens Party have no interest in ending the climate wars’: Shadow Minister for Agriculture Joel Fitzgibbon. Picture: AAP

Labor frontbencher Joel Fitz­gibbon has accused the Greens of having no interest in tackling climate change practically, saying the party was using the issue as a political weapon.

Mr Fitzgibbon spoke out after Greens founder Bob Brown told The Weekend Australian he was “very proud” of the anti-Adani convey he led through central Queensland during the 2019 election campaign.

While Labor argues the convey encouraged voters in mining electorates to back the Coalition, One Nation and Clive Palmer, Dr Brown said it helped Greens senator Larissa Waters. “It got Larissa Waters back into the Senate. She was in very great difficulty and bringing that issue to a head brought voters,” Dr Brown said.

Mr Fitzgibbon, the opposition resources spokesman, said the comments showed the Greens “chase votes, not policy solutions”, noting the party helped vote down the Rudd government’s proposed emissions trading scheme in 2009.

“Like the Libs and Nats on the right, members of the left-wing Greens Party have no interest in ending the climate wars,” Mr Fitzgibbon said. “Climate change is their central campaigning and fundraising vehicle; without it their relevance would further ­decline. That’s why it is not in their interest to actually address the climate-change challenge. They are no more responsible than the deniers.”

Former Greens leader Bob Brown.

Queensland Labor senator Anthony Chisholm, a former state party secretary, accused Dr Brown of being “cynical”. “With Bob Brown and his cynical Greens, it’s always about narrow political advantage and never about winning over Australians to elect a government committed to taking action on climate change,” he said.

Labor went to the 2019 election with a policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030, as well as a 50 per cent ­renewables target. This compared with the Coalition’s 2030 target to reduce emissions by 26 per cent from 2005 levels.

Senior Labor figures believe its climate change messaging during the 2019 campaign was hijacked by Dr Brown’s convey and made people in regional Queensland feel progressive parties held their livelihoods in contempt.

When asked if the re-election of Senator Waters may have come at the expense of electing a Labor government with ambitious climate policies, Dr Brown said Bill Shorten’s agenda was supportive of the coal and gas ­industries. “ (Mr Shorten) had a target out to the never never but meantime had the same policies on coalmining, but wanted added, Shorten came up with it, billions to accelerate gas extraction out of the Galilee basin and out of the Beetaloo basin,” he said. “No wonder the Greens’ vote went up in Queensland.”