“We can win the climate wars,” Anthony Albanese declared at his election victory party when it became clear he would be the next prime minister of Australia in 2022.
The Labor government came to power following growing voter concerns about climate change, particularly from women. While these concerns may not have always translated into direct votes, they did ultimately enable a Labor victory, with the Liberal party being decimated across the country.
Sixteen Liberal-held seats were intensely targeted by climate campaigners during the federal election, with the Liberals losing all but one to community independents, the Greens, or Labor. Women largely won these seats on platforms of climate action and integrity, ultimately helping to put a record number of women in parliament.
Analysis of the 2022 election found that nearly half of voters who switched to voting for an independent candidate did so because of climate fears, while 42 per cent of those who swung to Labor did so due to concerns about climate change.
But despite legislating long-awaited climate targets during its first months in government, Labor’s overall approach to climate action has been lacklustre. Rather than outlawing new coal, oil and gas project, this government has continued to approve new projects, including four new coal mine expansions.
On Thursday, the Albanese Government went one step further into the past, with Resources Minister Madeleine King (pictured above) releasing the Future Gas Strategy, igniting a flashback to the Morrison Government’s “Gas-fired Recovery” plan, announced in 2020.
The announcement has also sparked a new climate war among those demanding stronger climate action and also in the Labor Party. Some backbenchers say they have been “blindsided” by the plan, including MP for Higgins Dr Michelle Ananda-Rahah, who said she would have preferred more consultation. Another Labor MP, Sally Sitou, also expressed her concerns and the need to move quickly towards a low-carbon future.
Ged Kearney, Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care has told the ABC that we “cannot draw out our reliance on fossil fuels any longer than is necessary” and that public money shouldn’t be spent on new gas or coal projects.
The Greens and independents have been more scathing than what Labor’s own MPs are saying publicly, with independent Zali Staggall declaring that “just like the Morrison Government, the Albanese Government is captured by the gas industry and self interest.”
The plan
The Albanese Government’s plan is to position gas as a key and important source of energy through 2050 and beyond, offering investment in new gas sources—meaning exploration, investment, and development into gas—to be undertaken largely by existing fossil-fuel companies.
It’s been shared under the banner of the “Future Made in Australia” strategy, which aims to create more jobs in Australia. It’s also listed as part of the roadmap to see Australia achieve net zero, despite gas being a fossil fuel, with emissions from extraction, processing, and exploration gas being a significant contributor to Australia’s overall emissions.
The plan puts gas in focus, arguably as solar and wind energy get put on the backburner in favour of fossil fuel multinationals, despite the cost of such renewable energy and storage options dropping every year.
King says the plan is “based on facts and data, not ideology or wishful thinking,” and that the plan will support the country’s emissions reduction target, but such words defy the advice of climate scientists, energy experts and the International Energy Agency, which has declared climate targets can only be reached with “huge declines in the use of coal, oil and gas.”
While King has positioned the plan as a way to secure Australia’s energy supply — Australia doesn’t have a supply issue when it comes to gas. Despite prices rising in recent years, more than 70 percent of the gas extracted is exported.
Ultimately, this plan will see taxpayers footing the bill for exploration projects, which will likely be undertaken by the rich fossil-fuel industry and its major players (think BP, Santos and Shell). The big emitters of the fossil-fuel industry pay very little tax in Australia and employ few people locally.
As a strategy for creating more jobs, analysis by the Australia Institute finds that investing in almost “any other industry” would create more jobs than investing in gas. Every million dollars invested in the social assistance industry creates 12.5 jobs, while the same amount for education and training creates 9.3 jobs. As for investing in oil and gas extraction? Every million will result in one-fifth of a new job, according to TAI.
The Smart Energy Council has described this new gas plan as a “recipe to cook the planet” and called for the government to support “industries of the future, not the past”. It notes the fact we already have the renewable energy solutions of the future available, but their potential is being delayed. “The gas lobby’s power over governments of all persuasions is on full display here, and it’s a horror show. This is Woodside’s blueprint for the future,” CEO John Grimes said. “Make no mistake, multinational fossil fuel companies are celebrating today.”
Amanda McKenzie, CEO of The Climate Council, says now is not the time to burn more gas and contribute further to the climate crisis. She notes the choice the Albanese Government faces: “Cut climate pollution and seize the decade by scaling up clean energy, or support new gas projects. It can’t do both.”
Some groups welcome the plan – notably those representing big businesses, and those backing fossil-fuel companies. The Business Council described the “critical role gas will play in supporting economic growth, ensuring a reliable supply of power and keeping price down on the road to achieving Australia’s net zero ambitions.”
But it’s clear that a future Australia built on the gas of the present and the past will contribute to something else: more emissions, more votes leaving the major parties and more climate wars.
Meanwhile, a poll of hundreds of scientists released this week by The Guardian found that 80 per cent believe the planet is heading towards at least 2.5C of heating this century, which will result in disastrous outcomes for humanity including famine, conflict and mass migration. Just six per cent of the scientists believe the internationally agreed target of 1.5C would be met.
There is still some of the hope many felt when Albanese shared his vision of ending the climate law.
“A world in which we pass 1.5 [degrees C] is not set in stone,” Christiana Figueres, who famously managed to oversee the Paris Agreement, told The Guardian in response to scientists sharing how the felt infuriated and hopeless by governments’ failure to act.
“The scientists are telling us where we are, but now it’s up to the rest of us to decide what this moment requires of us.”
Pictured above: Madeleine King speaking with media at National Beef Week on Thursday.