The Good, The Bad and The Meg

The recent federal election brought renewed hope to millions of Australians who lived under a hopeless Coalition government when it came to preventing and managing climate disasters.

The Albanese government has been in power for almost six months. During that time their Climate Change Act 2022 has already passed both federal chambers. But despite its groundbreaking attempts to right the wrongs of the previous government, does this new piece of Labor legislation have the power to reduce greenhouse emissions, or is it just faking it?

One important distinction to note is that whilst this bill was proposed by the Australian Labor Party and would not have passed without their House majority in the Senate, it received essential support by the crossbench. The Greens, independent Senator David Pocock and the Jacqui Lambie Network voted for the bill, ensuring its success in the Senate.

However, despite the crossbench’s endorsement of the bill (albeit with numerous amendments), it doesn’t exonerate Labor’s controversial decision to not ban new coal and gas projects which have faced extreme scrutiny by not only the Greens but also the majority of the crossbench. Under this decision, the current Climate Change and Energy Minister, Chris Bowen, has indicated that he will not subject this decision to the safeguard mechanisms of the new Climate Change bill.

So, is the ALP actually committed to ending the ‘climate wars’ that have dominated Australian politics, claiming the political lives of Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard and Malcolm Turnbull?

During Federal Member for Canberra Alicia Payne’s recent visit to Fenner Hall, I discussed Labor’s coal and gas approvals. Payne stated that she was as concerned about the refusal to restrict new projects as much as her constituency and discussed how she and other concerned Labor backbenchers held a discussion with senior ALP officials. The plan to expand hundreds of kilometres of zoning for potential new fossil fuel projects allegedly takes place in mostly so-called ‘brown zones’ – areas where there are no identified coal or gas reserves.

The drive by the ALP in its climate change policy seems to have made prominent headlines. As someone who currently maintains a Parliamentary media pass and has observed the passage of the bill in the Senate and the discussions within Parliament House, whether or not this drive is genuinely motivated by a desire to curb Australia’s greenhouse emissions or is just political pandering to the millions of Australians desiring real change remains to be seen.

The Climate Change Bill is largely seen by many observers and some media as ‘symbolic.’ The legislation sets a minimum 43 percent cut to emissions by 2030 but doesn’t actually fund this, making those concerned about the environment and workers in affected industries vulnerable. Ultimately, Albo finds himself in an almost untenable position where he must contend with mounting losses in the economy driven by both resource supply shortages and pragmatic decision-making that won’t alienate Australians. The Prime Minister must also contend with a huge crossbench made up of the Greens and independents that heed environmental scientific consensus and are demanding stronger, more prominent action on climate change.

Albo has a huge amount of catching up to do. Whether it is to become more politically pragmatic in the face of many unprecedented crises, or take real action at the federal level on climate change as he promised to millions of Australians. The ALP and the 47th Parliament must reckon with us, the Australian people, whether to kick out the climate hesitancy and ambiguity, or face a complete renewal of Australian politics when the next election rears its head in 2025. Who knows, maybe Albo will fall victim just like Rudd, Gillard or Turnbull did to climate divisions and we’ll all be asking ourselves the same question again in two years. Or the next two years after that. Or the next…