Coalitions new climate policy offers only a thin veneer of credibility
For a political party whose right-wing faction wore as a badge of honour its willingness to bludgeon past leaders who showed any sign of enthusiasm for reducing carbon emissions, changing course was never going to be easy. But with the winds of change turning gale force, Prime Minister Scott Morrison knew he had to act.
The most pragmatic of politicians, Mr Morrison well understood that without a veneer of climate credibility, he was going to become a pariah on the world stage and, with an election looming, be on the wrong side of growing support for action from the public and businesses.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces on Tuesday his new plan to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
But navigating the treacherous internal forces within the Prime Minister’s own party, let alone those within the Nationals, was a gamble that could have gone terribly wrong. To his credit, he cajoled his colleagues into supporting a target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050 without the train-wreck outcome of previous attempts.
Deputy Prime Minister and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce may be behaving like a hostile hostage when expounding the new policy, but for those MPs who have spent more than a decade using climate scepticism to incite political fear and loathing, it must be a tough ask to back it with a straight face. But that they must, and that is the policy’s most potent feature. The days of Coalition MPs being given free rein to cast doubt over the science of climate change, let alone walk into the Parliament with a piece of coal, have come to an end.
However, for all the benefits of shutting down the climate deniers, let’s not pretend that the Coalition’s new position is anything but the thinnest of veneers when it comes to credible policy. In essence, Mr Morrison has dressed up the government’s technology-based road map and resold it with a 2050 emissions target. It is filled with flights of fantasy, promising a net zero future without job losses, higher taxes or hurting industry. All gain, and no pain.
If things really were all so easy, you would have to wonder what the fuss has been about. The reality, of course, is that the transition away from fossil fuels is an enormous structural change requiring a global effort on a scale never before attempted. In Australia, any serious climate policy must include a plan for curtailing the fossil fuel industry while simultaneously developing adequate baseload and dispatchable power generation from a mix of renewable energy sources. The scale of that task, let alone the many thousands of incremental changes needed to bolster the transition, highlights the paucity of policy the Coalition has put on the table.
But if politics is the power of perception, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s very public pat on the back for Mr Morrison â€" he described Australia’s policy shift as heroic â€" is recognition that the Coalition’s new stance will win some plaudits at the upcoming Glasgow climate summit. And unless Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese substantially lifts his own game on climate policy, it may be enough to dent one of Labor’s clear policy advantages.
Some may interpret that as smart politics by Mr Morrison, but it really only highlights the sad state of affairs of climate policy in Australia. You would hope the pandemic has taught us that political posturing offers little protection from a real-world crisis. It appears we have some way to go before that lesson is learnt.
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