Labor climate policy ‘put fear of God in people and alienated blue-collar base’

Former Labor MP Cathy O’Toole has called on ­Anthony Albanese to lead a climate change policy overhaul to win back blue-collar workers.

Former ALP MP Cathy O'Toole. Picture: Cameron Laird

Former Labor MP Cathy O’Toole — who lost the party’s only central and north Queensland seat at the May election — has called on ­Anthony Albanese to lead a climate change policy overhaul to win back blue-collar workers in the regions.

The former Herbert MP, who was a casualty of Bill Shorten’s drubbing in Queensland, said the party’s climate change policy “put the fear of God into people” and alienated its blue-collar base.

She told The Australian she would not run for the seat in 2022.

Ms O’Toole said Labor should have hit back harder against the anti-Adani convoy led by Bob Brown and the Greens, which she said made people feel like “discarded pieces of rubbish”.

“We should not have allowed the demonisation of people’s communities. I speak about my area, and that is how people felt,” Ms O’Toole said.

With opposition frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon leading the charge for a less ambitious emissions reduction target, Ms O’Toole said Labor needed to have a “long hard look at itself and its values”.

“As part of that, I suggest we probably need to have some way of describing our position on climate change that does not threaten, disenfranchise or put the fear of God into people,” Ms O’Toole said.

“We do need to take the community on the journey (of combating climate change) with us. We need to speak in simple language. We need to ensure that people are understanding the actual message we are trying to deliver.

“Blue-collar workers in my community, and our base if you like, felt that Labor was not supporting them. We lost booths that were our base.”

Labor recorded its lowest ever primary vote in Queensland in the May election and suffered massive swings against it in north and central parts of the state where the Adani mine and the coal sector were popular.

Party strategists thought Labor could pick up three seats in central and northern Queensland but came away with none.

Ms O’Toole said Labor’s “just transitions” policy — in which Labor promoted its aim to transition coal workers into other industries — was formed without adequate consultation.

“If you serious about just transitions you would have a message that indicated very clearly workers would be involved in the process. They are not going to be shoved off somewhere, they are going to be involved in the discussion,” Ms O’Toole said.

“I call a just transition a conversation with workers, an opportunity for them to have their current skills mapped, to look at what is transferable, to ask them about where they think they might help (and) is the new job array on offer something they are interested in? Otherwise you are on a whim and a promise and that is just rubbish. I don’t think (our policy) told the story anywhere clearly enough.

“For example, say to someone ‘there is heaps of work in the community with the NDIS, go and get a job there’. That is utter garbage.”