Federal member for Hunter Joel Fitzgibbon explains his shock move to push Labor to accept the Government's climate change reduction target of 28 per cent - a figure they have criticised in the past for being too weak.
Six years have passed since Tony Abbott repealed the laws that a Labor Government put in place to reduce Australia's green house gas (GHG) emissions. Emissions have been rising ever since.
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They'll continue to rise for the next three years too, unless Scott Morrison can be persuaded to change track. That clearly won't be easy because our Prime Minister believes his current path is one to political victory. He may or may not be right and we all have role in determining which it is.
Our landscapes are burning, our towns are running out of water, and the number of destitute farming families grows each year. None of us can afford three more years of inaction. The call to arms went out long ago, but the international response has been underwhelming. Nowhere is that more true than here in Australia.
Australia is responsible for just 1.3 percent of global GHG emissions. Nothing we do alone can make a meaningful difference. But if the big emitters move too, we can keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius increase on pre-industrial levels. So Australia's job is to show leadership and to honour our own Paris commitments so we can appeal to others to do the same from a position of credibility.
It's sad that so many Australians have come to believe we can't reduce our GHG emissions without closing-down the coal industry, destroying local jobs and damaging the economy. Of course it's a view Scott Morrison propagates.
It's a neat trick because at the same time, he claims to be taking action. Our Prime Minister speaks from both sides of his mouth. He says he's on track to reduce our emissions by 26-28 percent by 2030, but his energy department says emissions are rising. His Energy Minister concedes they are rising, but says it's only because we are using a lot of energy to cool, compress and export more gas.
When pressed on the inconsistencies in his messaging, Scott Morrison turns the attack on Labor and its more ambitious commitments to reducing GHG emissions. If his tactic continues to work, we'll have six more years of GHG emissions growth rather than three. That would be twelve years of inaction. God forbid.
Labor has to point the spotlight in Scott Morrison's direction. For too long it's been about us, when it should have been about them.
Reducing emissions by 28 percent by 2030 may not be ideal but it would be a huge change in Australia's current trajectory. And if we can reverse the growth without damaging our economy, we'll have a great platform from which to argue there is scope to be more ambitious.
The alternative is three more years of emissions growth, and three more years in which we'll continue to lack credibility on the international stage.
