The dark shadow dogging Turnbull in Paris

MALCOLM Turnbull is trying really hard to make us look good overseas. But there’s one hangover he just can’t shake off.

ANALYSIS

Malcolm Turnbull is taking significant steps on climate change policy in Paris but he is still following in the carbon-reduction footprints of predecessor Tony Abbott.

So far at least.

The Prime Minister has been hobbled by domestic political priorities just as an important group of major economies has made clear they want to run towards global carbon neutrality.

Mr Turnbull is credited with taking a new Australian “attitude” to the COP21 global warming summit, putting his personal stamp on our international contribution to climate change efforts and signalling to other leaders our post-Abbott approach to climate change.

“From Australia we come with confidence and optimism,” he told the gathering.

The Prime Minister has not just been striking poses. Mr Turnbull also has been making significant announcements.

He has signed Australia onto the final five years of the Kyoto 2 round of reductions; pledged to provide at least $1 billion to help developing nations cut carbon reductions ($800 million to go to our Pacific region), and joined 19 other nations in boosting clean energy innovations by 2020.

But he continues to be restricted by the constant attention of his Liberal right wing — and right wing commentators — who are alert to, and highly critical of, any deviation from the Abbott line.

The fact he is even in Paris has roused the fury of some of the more primitive observers from the right. It has been argued Mr Turnbull should be concentrating on the defeat of IS terrorism, which ignores the stark truth that the presence of so many heads of government in Paris is the ultimate defiance of the atrocity merchants.

But there are no-go policy areas for the Prime Minister.

The legacy of former PM Tony Abbott still lingers. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Certainly Mr Turnbull has avoided any specific backing for the increased discussion around a global emissions trading scheme. That is still associated with Labor’s “great big tax”.

Further, there are sectional interests to acknowledge, such as farmers who yesterday feared they might lose their diesel subsidies if Australia signed onto a cut of fossil fuel supports.

Australia didn’t sign, with Environment Minister Greg Hunt today claiming it would have been redundant, as we already have a similar pact with European nations. Nice try.

There are some Mr Turnbull will never please, no matter what he might reasonably do in Paris.

“Malcolm Turnbull has had so much hope placed in him ... for him to disappoint everyone is heartbreaking,” said Greens senator Larissa Waters today, barely hours after the summit’s opening.

The Climate Institute has not been as harsh and has even commended Mr Turnbull.

“Ratification of the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol helps build confidence that Australia is serious about its international commitments,” said institute CEO John Connor.

“It confirms our commitment to a range of 2020 emissions reduction targets, from five to 25 per cent below 2000 levels, and it can allow simpler access to international offsets.”

However, Mr Connor also said that while Mr Turnbull had taken steps towards zero emissions, “the Prime Minister should be taking strides”.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, also in Paris, has attacked the promise of money for developing nations as “an accounting trick” shifting funds in the foreign aid budget.

Mr Turnbull will return tomorrow and in the brief parliamentary time left in the year will no doubt give a glowing account of the Paris negotiations, which will be continued by Mr Hunt and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.

Mr Turnbull is an internationalist, compared to the unilateral bent of Tony Abbott. This is an important foray into the broader effort led by some of our closest partners, from the US to Britain.

It is striking, however, that the legacy of his predecessor — a prime minister who appointed as his business adviser a man who rejected the science of climate change — continues to limit his aspirations.

So far at least.

Originally published as The dark shadow dogging Turnbull in Paris