A group of Liberal backbenchers facing election challenges from independent candidates have renewed calls for a more ambitious 2035 emissions reduction target in the wake of the COP26 summit.
Key points:
- COP26 president Alok Sharma acknowledging the pledges from the meeting don't go far enough
- Australia signed the agreement but said it's 2030 emissions reduction target would not be changing
- Liberal MP Jason Falinski has suggested Australia should have more a ambitious target
The conference's final communique called on all nations to "revisit and strengthen" their 2030 targets at next year's summit in Egypt, with COP26 president Alok Sharma acknowledging the current pledges don't go far enough.
Australia signed the agreement but on Sunday the federal government confirmed that its 2030 target wouldn't be changing, despite its own modelling predicting it will be comfortably beaten.
"Australia's 2030 target is fixed and we are committed to meeting and beating it as we did with our Kyoto-era targets," Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Energy Minister Angus Taylor said in a joint statement.
The international community's request for more ambition at next year's conference has emboldened some Liberal backbenchers who are concerned by well-financed independent campaigners vowing to outgun on them on climate change before the election.
Jason Falinski, a Liberal backbencher based on Sydney's northern beaches, says the 2030 target should not be changed as it was an election commitment. He's instead raised a new date.
"COP27 [in 2022] will move to targets for 2035 and that will become the medium-term target that nations will be asked to look at and that obviously creates scope for countries like Australia to look at their projections," he told the ABC.
Mr Falinski did not put a specific target on the 2035 date but said it should be "as high as possible in a manner and form that protects both our environment and the economic opportunities that Australia".
Several other Liberal MPs are agitating for the same outcome. Some think a 45 to 55 per cent emissions reduction target by 2035 is realistic, while others are unwilling to speculate until they see detailed modelling.
On Sunday, Health Minister Greg Hunt told Insiders he welcomed the COP26 outcome as important progress but did not commit to revisiting and strengthening the 2030 targets Australia signed up to.
"It reminds me of Prince Hal to Hotspur in Henry IV – 'I never promised to pay thee, but now that I'm here I'll pay thee double,' "he told the ABC.
Senator Payne and Mr Taylor also pushed back against critics of Australia's climate change policy and ambition, noting the government was achieving its targets unlike some other nations.
"The Morrison Government will always stand up for and make decisions in Australia's national interest, and we will do what's right for rural and regional communities," they said.
"Australia's economy is almost unique amongst developed countries, with an economy specialised in the production of energy- and emissions-intensive commodities."
Labor: 'They failed miserably'
The Federal Opposition called for more clarity on the government's position on 2030 and also criticised the backbencher's push for a 2035 target.
Shadow Energy Minister Chris Bowen said voters should not be convinced by Liberal backbenchers trying to differentiate themselves.
"This is just the normal sort of posturing we get from MPs pretending to be different from a government that they are a member of," Mr Bowen told the ABC.
On Sunday, Labor leader Anthony Albanese said that if the government had signed up for an increased 2022 target then it needed to detail that before the election.
"What we see from Scott Morrison is someone who is not sure whether he is actually going to change his position on climate change, because he is all things to all people, [that's what] he is trying to be," Mr Albanese said.
Labor is yet to unveil its own 2030 plans, having ditched the 45 per cent emission reduction target it took to the 2019 election.
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2021-11-14 14:22:46Z
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