Opposition leader Tony Abbott's foray at the Sydney Institute last night into the debate on climate change, environmental protection and Greens preferences has to be welcomed even if his solutions are lame or deceptive.
After the failure of the Copenhagen Climate Conference and the Rudd government's useless emissions trading scheme this country needs urgent debate on the way forward on climate change.
Mr Abbott's speech barely touched on the massive restructuring this country has to go through to achieve a low carbon economy. Interestingly he does not promote climate jobs even though this is where massive employment expansion lies.
It is not hard to guess why. Creating jobs delivering wind and solar power and energy effeciency on a mass scale challenges the dominance of the fossil fuel industry that Coalition policy works to shield from any pain in meeting the challenge of climate change.
While needed, Mr Abbott's pitch for 15,000 green jobs, which can cover anything from working in landscaping and ecotourism to flood control and water management, should not be allowed to obscure the need to create jobs to produce clean energy.
In the United Kingdom the debate on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is resulting in calls for the creation of climate jobs. Members of the Labor, Greens and Liberal Democrat parties in that country, as well as unions and non-government organisations, have come together to back One million climate jobs Now!
The campaign has identified the massive employment opportunities that can be generated in the wind, solar and wave power industries, and has shown this is the way to drive down greenhouse gas emissions.
When Mr Abbott goes for green jobs it is a reminder that such talk is cheap. These jobs are needed but they are not renewable sector jobs contributing to a low carbon economy.
Australia needs climate jobs now. This is how we can provide alternative employment opportunities to workers in the fossil fuel industry who will be feeling uneasy about their future.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young commenting on Mr Abbott's speech clearly nailed the Coalition and Labor failures: "Just like the Federal Government, the Liberals have an embarrassing track record of failing to commit to ending old growth logging, launching international action on whaling or setting ambitious greenhouse targets."
Mr Abbott also stated that "It's high time the green movement rethought its habitual preference for Labor."
Effectively the leader of the opposition is acknowledging that Greens preferences will play a critical role in the outcome of the next election.
In NSW as with past elections it will be Greens local campaign teams who will determine preferences. In making recommendations on preferences in the past the NSW Greens have chosen not to preference the Coaltion before Labor because the Liberals and Nationals have even weaker policies on the environment and social justice issues than Labor.
The ascendancy of Tony Abbott as Coalition leader is troubling many voters. He has been dishonest with the electorate on climate change and some of his statements give encouragement to climate change deniers.
Climate change policies of the Coalition and Labor will be a critical factor to consider when determining preferences in the coming federal election.