6 years ago
THE LIBERALS CAN’T HIDE THEIR CLIMATE FAILURES FOREVER
SENATOR THE HON PENNY WONG
The Morrison Government has been caught out being deliberately deceitful on damning figures highlighting its failure on carbon pollution.
The deception has been laid bare by a Freedom of Information request made by the Australian Conservation Foundation.
The FOI reveals the government knew Australia’s carbon pollution was continuing to rise seven weeks before it tried to bury the figures by releasing them just after the interim report of the Banking Royal Commission, on the Friday night before football finals weekend.
It is no wonder the Liberals are keen to avoid any scrutiny of their climate change record, with the latest data showing that carbon pollution rose by 1.3 per cent in the last year to March 2018.
The Government’s own pollution projections also show emissions will keep rising all the way to 2030, exposing the PM’s repeated claims that the Liberals don’t need a climate policy because Australia will meet our Paris climate targets “in a canter” as a lie.
The Prime Minister’s lie has been further exposed overnight with the Chief Executive of the European Climate Foundation, Laurence Tubiana declaring:
“the consensus in the scientific community is that Australia is not currently on track to reduce emissions and meet its Paris Agreement commitments”.
Like Labor, Ms Tubiana points to the dangers and missed opportunities of failure to implement meaningful climate policy, saying such a failure will have:
“profound consequences on the country’s standing in the international community and its future prospects in terms of innovation and economic opportunity.”
All governments across the world, including our own, are confronted with the grave responsibility to do everything they can to ensure that economies successfully transition to clean energy, and that our children, grandchildren and generations beyond are able to live in a safe climate.
The latest attempt by the Liberal Government to sweep their failure to address climate change under the rug only confirms the Liberal Party has completely shirked that responsibility.
Only Labor is united and committed to taking its climate change responsibilities seriously.