The Labor Party failed to properly make the case for a carbon price in Australia according to opposition leader Bill Shorten, but it will continue to press for an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
Mr Shorten said Labor, which introduced Australia’s current carbon price laws two years ago, must live with its failure to convince Australians of the need for action on climate change.
The conservative Liberal-National government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott is currently moving legislation to repeal the carbon price laws and this is expected to pass through parliament in the next two weeks.
Fairfax Media reports that speaking at the ANU’s Crawford School of Public Policy, Mr Shorten conceded Labor failed to “make the case” to the public on the need for climate action when last in government.
“There’s no shrinking from that, but I know there are many leaders in the business community, who spoke against an ETS at the time and now look back with more than a hint of regret at five years of lost certainty and economic opportunity,” he said.
“Many members of the Australian Greens Party, and the broader environmental movement, who lament choosing the purity of impotence over the practical benefits of reasonable compromise.
”And many members of the Liberal Party, who rue passing up the chance to move forward, together, on an issue that will define this century.”
Fairfax Media reports he welcomed the Palmer United Party’s decision to support the retention of the Renewable Energy Target, the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Climate Change Authority.
On the ETS, Mr Shorten said Labor’s position had not changed.
“It is the position we took to the last election, it is the position we hold now, and it’s the position reflected in the amendments Labor has twice moved to the government’s repeal bills,” he said.
”Labor believes climate change is a problem that demands a serious response, Mr Shorten added.
