Frontbencher Amanda Rishworth concedes Labor torn on climate targets

Labor frontbencher Amanda Rishworth has conceded there is now an open debate in the Opposition over whether to adopt the Coalition’s climate change targets.

Amanda Rishworth said on Saturday there was a debate on emissions reduction in Labor ranks but claimed it was only because of a vacuum in energy policy.. Picture: Kym Smith

Labor frontbencher Amanda Rishworth has conceded there is now an open debate inside the opposition over its approach to climate change and what short-term emissions reduction targets it should adopt.

Amid concerns over whether Labor needs to broaden its appeal, senators Alex Gallacher and Glenn Sterle told The Australian they backed calls by resources spokesman Joel Fitz­gibbon to adopt the govern­ment’s ­medium-term target to lower emissions by 26-28 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030.

Energy Minister Angus Taylor leapt on Labor’s growing climate divisions at the weekend, demanding Anthony Albanese now back his emissions targets.

Ms Rishworth, the opposition’s early childhood spokeswoman, said on Saturday there was a debate on emissions reduction in Labor ranks but claimed it was only because of a vacuum in energy policy.

“What we’ve got is complete uncertainty when it comes to the government’s policy,” she said.

“That’s why we’ve got a discussion within Labor about how we tackle climate change in the absence of the Coalition having any national framework, any nat­ional energy framework.

“There is some real concern here about what will be left if Labor is elected to government, what we will have to deal with in terms of the mistakes and problems the Coalition has made.”

To The Australian, Senator Gallacher took aim at opposition climate change spokes­man Mark Butler, who has flatly rejected adopting the government’s 2030 emissions targets.

The Opposition Leader last month moved to end the climate wars by proposing Labor and the government co-operate on a bipartisan energy policy framework that could be “scalable” for the parties’ different levels of ambition.

Mr Taylor on Saturday said the Labor MPs’ revolt was a rejection of the opposition’s pre-election climate policies. “I wel­come acknowledgment by Labor Party MPs and senators that Labor’s energy and emissions reduction policies will increase fin­ancial pressure on Australians and destroy jobs,” he said.

“It is increasingly clear Albanese’s ‘deal’ on energy was less about working with the government and more with resolving the growing rift within his party.