Australia’s opposition Labor Party’s new leader Anthony Albanese wants to work with the conservative Liberal-National government on climate change, but a voice within the re-elected coalition is more concerned with building coal-fired power stations.
Anthony Albanese, who has taken the Labor leadership unopposed, called for bipartisanship in order to give certainty to businesses on energy policy.
“The time for the ongoing conflict over these issues surely is over,” AAP Newsagency reports he told journalists in Sydney.
“Climate action will create jobs, it will benefit our economy and it will benefit our environment, and the business community say that they are crying out for certainty.”
Labor’s policies include a 45 per cent emissions reduction target and 50 per cent renewable energy target by 2030, but they are set for review after last weekend’s shock election loss.
The re-elected Liberal National government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, has a more modest emissions reduction goal of 26 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030.
Meanwhile, former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce has declared that building a new coal-fired power station is a moral imperative for the government.
Mr Joyce, continuing his role of outspoken backbencher, said it was intolerable that people around Australia were not able to afford their power bills after years of rising prices.
“That for me is the greatest moral problem of our time in Australia, that we have now created a nation with the dearest power prices in the world for which people are truly suffering,” he told Sky News.
“We’ve taken them back a century and a half to a time of candles because of our policies.
“We’ve got to recognise that and we’ve got to be able to break this zeitgeist down and if we say we’re going to build a coal-fired power station, get out there and do it.”
In a carry over from just before the federal election was called the government has a shortlist of a dozen power generation projects it is considering underwriting, including gas and hydro projects and a coal-fired power station upgrade.
It has also pledged a $10 million feasibility study into ways to meet the energy needs of heavy industry in north and central Queensland, including a coal-fired power plant at Collinsville.
After that study was announced, Mr Joyce tweeted that “we have got ourselves a coal fired power station for Qld”.
AAP reports he has now also urged the government to get on with its so-called big stick energy law to break up companies that misuse their market power.
The legislation giving these powers to the competition watchdog failed to pass parliament before the election.
“There is no policy that Canberra can come forward with that will change the climate back but, by God, you can make people poorer, you can make them more miserable and you have no right to do that,” Mr Joyce said.
EcoNews is an independent publication that relies on contributions from its readers.
WE’RE BUILDING A PLATFORM WITH A CLEAR FOCUS ON THE ENVIRONMENT, CULTURAL AND SOCIAL GOOD. CONTRIBUTE AND TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE AN IMPACT.
