Australia’s opposition Labor Party and the Australian Greens Party have demanded the conservative Liberal-National government immediately release national greenhouse emissions data, and have warned the new Emissions Reduction Minister could be in contempt of parliament for missing the deadline to publish the figures.
The minister, Angus Taylor’s first act in his new role was to miss a Senate-set deadline on Friday for the publication of Australia’s emissions data for the December 2018 quarter.
AAP Newsagency reports Australia’s upper house Senate passed an order last year that required the minister to publish the quarterly greenhouse gas inventory no later than five months after the end of each quarter.
For the December quarter that date was May 31.
AAP reports Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said the government might be delaying the release as it might show emissions are continuing to rise.
“The coalition government has a history of burying bad news on climate change,” she said in a statement today.
“It has repeatedly released data when it is unlikely to draw significant attention. We’ve seen emissions data released on Christmas Eve and late on a Friday afternoon ahead of football grand finals.”
The government, via a statement from the environment department, said: “We anticipate the quarterly update of Australia’s national greenhouse gas inventory: December 2018 will be released soon.”
However, Labor’s climate and energy spokesperson, Mark Butler, said Mr Taylor “must immediately release the latest emissions data”.
“Angus Taylor has failed his first task as new emissions reduction minister,” Mr Butler said.
“This is a disgrace and shows total disregard to the Australian people and Senate process.
“But really it’s no surprise considering Angus Taylor has continually argued against climate action and is part of a government that has continually lied about what their emissions data actually shows, which is that emissions are rising and we’re not on track to meet our international climate commitments.”
The government has been under pressure because its climate policy has been failing to stall Australia’s emissions, which have been increasing every year for the past four years.
The Senate passed the order for rolling quarterly deadlines last year to address delays in the publication of national carbon pollution figures.
The Australian Greens climate spokesman, Adam Bandt, said the minister could be in contempt of parliament.
“The government and minister are showing early signs of contempt for the parliament and should be punished.
“Emissions data should be no different to other nationally significant data, which gets released by the ABS like clockwork.
“The release of greenhouse pollution data should be automatic and free from ministerial interference.”
In Senate estimates last year, department officials were asked if complying with Senate orders to publish the reports within five months would be a problem.
“No,” they replied.
“That time is sufficient for us to make use of the available data to prepare the reports,” they said.
On Monday afternoon the Australian Greens leader Senator Richard Di Natale wrote to the government’s deputy senate leader, Senator Simon Birmingham, who is the representative for both Mr Taylor and the environment department in the Senate.
Senator Di Natale reminded Senator Birmingham of the department’s testimony that it could meet the upper house deadline.
“Given the testimony from the department, the only conclusion is that it was held back for political reasons by the minister’s office,” he wrote.
“I seek your answers explaining the reasons for the delay and reserve my right to put a motion to the Senate should the government continue to demonstrate signs of contempt for the Senate and its role in scrutinising the use of executive power.”
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