Labor claims that they accept the science on climate change - but their actions indicate the opposite

While the Liberal and National Party are tearing themselves apart over how explicitly to reject the science of climate change, Labor is rejecting the policies that science says are necessary  and escaping scot-free. Put simply, the Coalition’s clumsy culture war is providing perfect cover for Labor’s determination to expand fossil fuel production.

Saying you support both accept the science of climate change but support the subsidised construction of new gas and coal projects is like saying you accept the science that smoking causes cancer while subsiding new tobacco plantations.

The Albanese Government isn’t decarbonising our economy, it is spending our money trying to lock us into a fossil fuel future. We are already the world’s third largest fossil fuel exporter but Labor aren’t resting on their laurels, they have big plans for expansion. While the North West Shelf approval attracted significant attention, the inconvenient truth is that there are more than 100 more fossil fuel projects seeking approval in Australia.

Significantly, Labor state premiers like WA’s Roger Cook, SA’s Peter Malinauskus and NSW’s Chris Minns are just as excited about the need to expand Australia’s fossil fuel production in Australia. Federal Resources Minister Madeline King showed just how self-referential and systematic the climate denial is when she declared:

“As our WA Premier Roger Cook has rightly pointed out: LNG is also displacing coal in many economies and helping to reduce global emissions.”

While climate denial of the variety spruiked by Donald Trump and Andrew Hastie is dangerous, at least there’s an honesty to their anti-science attitude. But the Albanese Government says it accepts the science of climate change, commissions an entire report into the catastrophic dangers of that climate change, sets long run emission reduction targets to avoid that climate change… and then does the least it can do to act on any of it.

Since coming to power in 2022 Labor has done nothing to reduce the number of large 4WD’s on our roads but it is proposing a new tax on electric vehicles. It’s done nothing to curb our $14.9 billion per year in fossil fuel subsidies, . And their so-called ‘Safeguard Mechanism’ is so badly designed it does more to safeguard the polluters than the planet. The Albanese Government actually gave Chevron’s enormous Gorgon gas project $10 million dollars worth of ‘carbon offsets’ even though its actual emissions went up.

While the bipartisan support for subsidised fossil fuel expansion in Australia means that this policy position is often perceived as ‘pragmatic’ or ‘centrist’, around the world such an anti-science approach to climate is seen as extreme. In the words of the United Nations Secretary General, “The truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels.”

Even the technocrats at the International Energy Agency (IEA) have said “There is no need for investment in new fossil fuel supply in our net zero pathway.”

But the Albanese Government rejects this.

According to Climate Minister Chris Bowen, calling for no new gas and coal projects to be approved by his government is ‘a slogan not a policy’. Maybe the Minister is unaware of the UN Secretary general’s view, or that of the IEA, or of the 15 Pacific countries who have . Indeed, maybe he is unaware the Columbian Government is hosting an entire conference next year on how to implement what he demeans as a ‘slogan’.

The science of climate change is settled, and so are the steps we need to take to limit it. Counties need to burn less fossil fuels and protect more trees; not either of those things, but both of these things. And we were supposed to start doing that 30 years ago. But that is not the Australian way.

While the Coalition’s overt rejection of this science is costing them votes, Labor’s determination to walk both sides of the street on climate change is causing real harm to the atmosphere, our diplomatic relations, and our economy. Imagine if instead of spending $14.9 billion per year on fossil fuel subsidises and giving half the gas we export away for free) our elected representatives taxed the fossil fuel industry and subsidised the things our families and our future needs. Ignoring science and economics is costing us a fortune.

To be clear, Australia doesn’t need to shut down all of its gas and coal mines tomorrow, and no one has suggested we should. But depicting their critics as reckless is how Labor positions itself as centrist while it subsidises the expansion of the fossil fuel industry that, according to its own climate risk assessment, is set to put over one million homes at very high risk of floods, bushfires, cyclones and heatwaves.

The science says fossil fuels are the major cause of climate change. And the science says it doesn’t matter where in the world they are burned they will cause that climate change. But the Albanese government says that exporting more gas will lower world emissions. It takes a really ineffective Liberal party to let Labor get away with nonsense like this.

Richard Denniss is co-Chief Executive Director at The Australia Institute.