THE GOVERNMENT’S TERRIBLE DAY ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Yesterday the Turnbull Government’s climate change credibility took an absolute battering.

We saw the Prime Minister take credit for a solar farm being built, which has only been commissioned because of the Victorian Renewable Energy Target – a scheme Malcolm Turnbull has called “left-wing ideology,” “waffle” and wants abolished.

 

Then Nationals MP Damian Drum became the first government MP to finally admit “yeah, our emissions are going up” and the government “has some problems with Paris”.

 

In this refreshing piece of honesty, Mr Drum contradicted the Government’s long held lines that the government is “on track” to meet a Paris agreement the Government strongly supports. 

 

The government also copped a whacking from industry and climate experts who criticised the government’s lack of climate policy, with Bloomberg New Energy Finance saying the government’s approach is “hope that the economy will just continue to more or less accidentally decarbonise,” and criticised Malcolm Turnbull’s inadequate emissions reduction target saying “The target is very, very weak. And (a target of 26 per cent reduction in emissions for the power sector) is a problem for not only the power sector, but also for the rest of the economy.”

 

To wrap it all up, the French President called out Malcolm Turnbull’s weakness on climate, saying he should “show power of conviction” on climate change.

 

Yep, Malcolm Turnbull certainly knows how to lead a party as committed to action on climate change as he is. This government is hopelessly divided and incapable of tackling climate change. Australia needs and deserves a Labor government which will implement real climate change policy.