2022-02-10
Yesterday and today in the ACT Legislative Assembly, the leaders of the three parties tabled letters from their Federal counterparts stating what climate action the Federal parties will take. This followed Jo Clay MLA’s motion last November during COP26.
“We are in a climate emergency. Some days this is almost imperceptible, but some days it hits us in a storm or a bushfire. We are already suffering the impacts of climate change. How bad it gets will be directly affected by the decisions we make right now,” said Jo Clay, ACT Greens Spokesperson for Circular Economy.
“We urged the Australian Greens, Labor and Liberals to commit to real climate action. We urged them to declare we’re in a climate emergency and legislate 2030 and 2040 targets on the path to net zero. We urged them to cease all new fossil fuel exploration and end public subsidies to coal and gas. We urged them to commit to 100% renewable electricity, which we know is possible because we have already done it here in the ACT. We urged them to set a national zero emissions transport policy.”
Comments attributable to Jo Clay, Greens MLA for Ginninderra.
“We’re really proud of the world leading action we’ve achieved by working together with ACT Labor, and we were happy to see both ACT Labor and the Canberra Liberals support this motion and write to their respective leaders.
“Disappointingly, it seems Anthony Albanese did not bother to respond to Andrew Barr’s letter sent on 17 January 2022. In the past, Federal Labor has refused to end public subsidies to the fossil fuel coal and gas industry. Their policy platform only commits to cut emissions by 43% by 2030, a target so weak that if others followed their lead the world would lock in catastrophic climate change. And we don’t know if Federal Labor will commit to any of the other real climate actions we listed because Anthony Albanese did not bother to respond. That is how seriously Federal Labor takes climate change. They don’t answer.
“What we do know is that Labor still takes huge donations from the fossil fuel industry. It is clear what drives their decisions. We cannot expect good climate policy from a party funded by fossil fuels.”
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Greens candidate for the Senate Dr Tjanara Goreng Goreng said:
“Scott Morrison did not commit to any firm target. He continued his magical thinking about ‘technological solutions’ that haven't yet been invented. He is still hoping someone else will come and save the Liberal Party from climate change.
“If you don’t have a plan to get out of gas and coal, you can’t be taken seriously on climate action. For voters in the next federal election the choice is clear: the only way we’ll get climate action in line with science is by electing a big group of Greens to kick out the Liberals and push Labor to take stronger action on climate change
“If the people of Canberra elect me to replace Zed Seselja, I can guarantee that I’ll be voting for climate policies based on evidence‘ with the inclusion of First Nations knowledge of taking Care of Country’, not wishful thinking.”
Greens candidate for Canberra Tim Hollo said
“Jo Clay’s motion has put on show the stark differences between the Greens, Labor and the Liberals - the good, the bad, and the very ugly of national climate policies.
“Scott Morrison’s letter is all lies and bluster and Anthony Albanese has not bothered to respond at all. Only Adam Bandt of the Australian Greens promised action in line with the scale and urgency of the climate crisis.
“Canberrans have chosen a power-sharing Greens-Labor government in the ACT for years now, and they’ve delivered the world-leading climate action that our community is crying out for. I’m excited that we are absolutely on the cusp of bringing that approach into the Federal Parliament.”