ALP climate turns frosty

Matt Keogh backs a call for the ALP to reach a ‘political settlement’ on the 2030 emissions target.

Opposition Leaderr Anthony Albanese. Picture: AAP

Labor frontbencher Matt Keogh has backed Joel Fitzgibbon’s call for the party to reach a “political settlement” on Australia’s 2030 emissions target, declaring it should be “on the government’s head” if the 26-28 per cent reduction proved to be insufficient in meeting Australia’s international obligations.

With key figures split on climate change policy, Mr Keogh — Labor’s spokesman for West Australian resources — stared down energy spokesman Mark Butler who on Wednesday rejected Mr Fitzgibbon’s push for the ALP to fall in behind the government’s target.

“I think Joel is right in saying we need to get to agreement with government. Joel is also right in saying that, if that agreement is government policy, it is the government that is responsible for that,” Mr Keogh told The Australian.

“We need (a) political settlement because the country needs that certainty.”

Mr Keogh said Labor could reassess its target ahead of the next election depending on the government’s success in reducing emissions by 2022.

“If you provide that certainty now about where we are aiming over this term of government, then the approach we take at the next election will be based on how successful the government has been on the government’s own policy as opposed to having competing policies over the course of this term,” Mr Keogh said.

“Let’s not get in the way and continue to haggle with them for the next 2½ years.”

Mr Butler, a key ally of Anthony Albanese, said embracing the government’s 26-28 per cent target would see Labor supporting policies that would contravene the Paris Agreement.

Labor went to the election promising to reduce Australia’s carbon emissions by 45 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030.

“We know that the government’s targets were not formed on the basis of advice but were dreamt up by Tony Abbott and if they were adopted around the world they would increase global warming by 3 degrees,” Mr Butler told The Australian.

“That’s why Labor has been consistently opposed to the target that is fundamentally inconsistent with the Paris agreement.”

Asked if Mr Fitzgibbon’s plan breached the Paris protocols, Mr Butler said: “Yes.”

“While Labor is reviewing all of our policies, we remain committed to the principles of the Paris agreement,” he said.

The Opposition Leader, who was yesterday overseas, sent a tweet declaring he was proud of Labor’s support for “strong action on climate change based around the science”.

“That action will not only protect our environment but is also good for our economy,” Mr Albanese tweeted.

In a speech delivered in Sydney on Wednesday night, which was exclusively previewed in The Australian, Mr Fitzgibbon said the 28 per cent reduction would be a “meaningful achievement” and allow Labor to refocus its climate change attack on the government’s failure to meet the targets it committed to when Tony Abbott was prime minister.

He said Labor could make the case for more ambitious cuts by 2050 if it demonstrated the 2030 targets were being met without damaging the economy.

“Based on recent history, 28 per cent would be a meaningful achievement, certainly a better outcome than the one Labor’s last climate policy is now achieving,” Mr Fitzgibbon said last night.

“The focus would then be all about actual outcomes, and the government would finally be held to account and forced to act.”

While Labor Left MPs dismissed Mr Fitzgibbon’s proposal, he had support in sections of the Labor Right, particularly in Queensland, where the party won just six out of the state’s 30 seats at the May poll.

Queensland senator Anthony Chisholm, who is on the campaign review team, said Labor could not leave itself vulnerable on climate.

“I am for bold action on climate change, but given the tough economic conditions in regional Queensland we can’t leave ourselves vulnerable to short-term scare campaigns from the LNP,” Senator Chisholm said.

“We saw what happened when we did that five months ago and we were smashed in regional areas.”

Frontbencher Shayne Neumann, who represents the southeast Queensland seat of Blair, said Mr Fitzgibbon’s intervention was “important”.

“Unless you are seen to be supporting the mining industry you can’t win seats in Queensland,” Mr Neumann told The Australian.

“We can’t be equivocal. That was our problem at the last election. We looked like we were equivocal. We looked like we were saying one thing in Victoria and another in Queensland.”

One Labor Right MP said: “Level-headed people are quite happy that we are finally getting some common sense into the ­debate from Labor.”

The Australian revealed in September that Labor was moving to drop the 45 per cent emissions ­reduction target, but Mr Butler has vowed the target will still be higher than the Coalition’s.