2021-12-07
The Greens today rejected Labor’s ‘take it or leave it’ approach to climate, saying people wanted parties to work together on something as important as climate, and that now that the likely reality of a power-sharing Parliament was dawning on everyone, Labor should not let their idea of the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Lines attributable to Leader of the Greens Adam Bandt MP:
“Liberal and Labor now seem to agree on one thing, which is that the Greens will be the most powerful party in the next Parliament.
“In balance of power, the Greens will kick the Liberals out and make the next government better by pushing them to phase out coal and gas.
“Labor says they’ll keep the same amount of coal in the system as the Liberals, but that’s not something to be proud of,it’s a recipe for climate collapse.
“Labor’s plan needs fixing, because it doesn’t shut coal-fired power stations, won’t reduce coal and gas exports and backs the Beetaloo methane gas bomb.
“We’re not about blocking Labor’s climate legislation, we’ll improve and pass it. Likewise, Labor should not let their idea of the perfect be the enemy of the good.
“The reality is Labor’s climate target is not based on the science. Labor doesn’t want to phase out coal fired power stations and don’t want to address the pollution from coal and gas exports.
“I know Labor says their climate policy is a take it or leave it thing, but I think you can file that under ‘things politicians say during an election campaign’. If the people elect a range of voices to Parliament, the next government will have to respect that.
“People are sick of this kind of macho ‘it’s my way or the highway’ politics, especially with something as important as climate. I think Labor’s attitude will turn people off.
“There is a lot of agreement between us and Labor on renewables. They have a big Rewiring Australia Fund, we have a big Grid Transformation Fund. They want batteries, we want batteries. They want solar banks, which they pinched from our solar farms policy. So there will be lots we can work on together, but there’s more work to do on coal and gas.
“When the Greens and Labor work together, like in the ACT, you get 100% renewable energy. When Labor works with the coal and gas corporations instead, like in WA and the NT, we get the Beetaloo Basin and the Scarborough gas fields.”