Australia is well and truly grappling with the pressing challenges of the climate crisis.
The 2019-20 bushfire season is still a not-too-distant memory, a fresh wound. The last three La Niña summers have brought successive floods, not even giving communities enough time to clean up and rebuild before being struck again.
And though La Niña seems behind us, the future looks bleak, with an impending “super El Niño” promising droughts, heatwaves and bushfires. As the recent devastating report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has forecast, there is a 98% chance the world will face its hottest year on record before 2028.
It seems like we’re living through one long natural disaster.
Last year’s election of a Labor government saw widespread relief from environmental advocates. The change of the old guard was heralded as a new chapter for the country. It was a government that continuously promised leadership and decisive action, the end of the climate wars.
One year on, it’s clear that reality is riddled with double standards, contradictions and a disheartening lack of genuine resolve.
The government pledged its allegiance to the cause of combating climate change. They vowed in no uncertain terms to reduce emissions, promote renewable energy and protect our Pacific neighbours.
But their actions speak a different language — one that whispers of self-interest, short-term gains and policies that perpetuate the very problems they claim to address.
Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the government’s budget, which has delivered investments in electrification and energy efficiency. Household energy upgrades are good news for both the climate and households desperately in need of cost-of-living relief. Significant money has also been put towards establishing Australia’s very own renewable hydrogen industry, and a National Net Zero Authority will oversee a rapid transition to a carbon-neutral economy.
But Labor’s investments in climate action are undermined by its cosy relationship with the gas industry. The government is supporting the rapid expansion of gas export production by gas giants like Woodside with $41 billion of fossil fuel subsidies — substantially more than all climate initiatives combined.
When faith in democracy is falling rapidly, the government is making an active choice to let the gas industry undermine all advancements on climate change and the cost of living.
When the call from Pasifika communities to accelerate action on climate change is louder and more urgent than ever, the government’s budget is devastatingly quiet on international climate finance.
When young people are struggling to comprehend that we must construct our futures within a world characterised by frequent and severe natural disasters, a world where climate change is exacerbating food insecurity and impacting living standards, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has recently greenlit four new coal mines.
For a government that needs younger voters onside to secure a second term in Parliament, it’s failing to acknowledge that more Australians than ever are stating climate change as their central concern.
Labor’s climate policies are symbolic of its party’s system of governance as a whole. We see ambition to do marginally better than the past government, but not a bit more. No ambition to stand up to the fossil fuel donors that continue to overtly influence political behaviour, day in, day out.
It’s not enough to not be the Liberal-National coalition government. It’s not enough to acknowledge that climate change exists and requires action if any genuine action taken is offset by subsidies and fossil fuel approvals.
Because at the end of the day, we end up at net zero.
Net zero ambition.
Net zero benefit.
Net zero climate action.
Is Labor doing enough to protect future generations from the effects of climate change? Let us know by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
