Greens issue climate ultimatum

The Coalition and the Greens are threatening to team up and refuse to deal with Labor’s signature climate policy in the upper house, unless secret modelling is urgently released.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The Coalition and the Greens are threatening to team up and refuse to deal with Labor’s signature climate policy in the upper house, unless secret modelling is urgently released.

The rival parties are in talks to block debate on the government’s safeguard mechanism over concerns Labor is refusing to release government modelling into emissions reductions under the scheme.

The move, which follows previous threats to scuttle Labor’s 43 per cent emissions reductions target until eventually backing it in, could delay the passage of Labor’s key climate legislation and put Anthony Albanese’s election mandate at risk.

The Greens and the Coalition on Tuesday accused the government of being in contempt of the Senate after joining forces to support a motion for the release of “secret” modelling on carbon ­offsets and emissions.

The Australian understands Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen will not ­release the modelling on the grounds it would breach cabinet in-confidence and market sensitivities.

While the government believes its refusal to release modelling is in line with normal Senate procedure, the Greens and the Coalition were preparing to take action against Labor if it fails to release the modelling by Thursday afternoon.

The Greens – who hold the balance of power in the Senate – are considering whether to launch a censure motion against the minister or to gag debate on the legislation when it comes ­before the upper house later in the month.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young on Wednesday urged Labor to release the modelling, arguing the minor party needed to see “evidence which underpinned their assumption” that the reforms would lower real emissions.

“If the government doesn’t want to show that their scheme will reduce pollution from coal and gas, I don’t know how they expect the Australian people to believe them,” Senator Hanson-Young told the ABC.

“The Senate is in control of our own destiny, the Senate is not controlled by the government, they don’t have the numbers in the Senate.”

Mr Bowen on Wednesday was preparing a letter to advise the Senate that disclosure of the Australian Carbon Credit Units modelling would not be in the public interest because it would reveal the deliberations of cabinet.

The letter is also expected to clarify that the release of the modelling could disclose market sensitivities which would have significant flow-on effects for the operation of the mechanism and be damaging to the government as the major purchaser of carbon credits.

The Australian understands Mr Bowen has shared various pieces of modelling with members of the crossbench as he seeks to win their support. He told parliament that it had an important opportunity to implement reforms to drive down emissions, as he criticised the opposition for its rejection of the scheme.