Month: November 2021

At an event last night to mark the 10th anniversary of the carbon price being legislated, Greens Leader Adam Bandt – whose victory in the seat of Melbourne led to the establishment of a Multi-Party Climate Change Committee that developed a world-leading suite of climate policies – has released modelling showing the carbon price was operating so effectively that had it not been repealed, the Liberals weak 2030 targets would have been met in 2020, a full decade early.
As another power-sharing minority Parliament looms, Mr Bandt said Labor should be proud of their cross-party achievement under Julia Gillard instead of continually trying to airbrush the period out of history, and should instead join the Greens in directing their criticisms at the real enemy – the Liberals – who tore down the only climate policy in this country that actually worked.
MR BANDT said:
In just its first year of operations, the Clean Energy Act cut emissions by 10 million tonnes.
If the Liberals hadn’t torn up the carbon price, Australia would have stopped an additional 256 million tonnes of pollution going into the atmosphere.
Every tonne counts.
We’ve modelled it. If the price on pollution had not been murdered on the floor of the Parliament, we would have cut over a quarter of a billion tonnes extra of pollution over the last six years.
In 2020, pollution would be 464 million tonnes a year, compared with the 512 Mt we reached under the Liberals and the 529-585 Mt forecast under Kevin Rudd’s own poor first draft of a climate policy.
If we had kept the price on pollution, we would have met the Coalition’s weak 2030 targets in 2020.
Australia’s pollution would already be 26% below 2005 levels, meeting the Government’s insufficient 2030 target 10 years early.
We would be ten years ahead of where we are now.
We would not face, as a country, the humiliation and shame on the international stageScott Morrison inflicted on us these past weeks.
We would not be putting Pacific Islands at risk of going under.
We would be able to honestly and credibly say we are doing a fair share of what needs to be done to keep people safe.
We would be able to stand with our allies, the USA and the UK, to increase our 2030 commitments.
We could condemn the actions of Russia, but instead Scott Morrison has had Australia join them, holding back the rest of the world’s efforts to keep people safe.
The carbon price package wasn’t perfect and nor did everyone get everything they wanted. But it not only worked, it strengthened the economy, solved big problems we faced, and set us up for the future.
Julia Gillard’s achievements here are often ignored.
Not only by the political media, but often by the ALP too.
Ten years on, we can see clearly how these policies would have worked to reduce millions of tonnes of pollution.
Instead of spending all their time telling tall tales about the one that got away, Labor needs to be proud of the climate legislation we actually landed.
The real villains in this piece are the Liberal Party, the Murdoch media and the coal and gas corporations, who all joined together to tear down the only climate policy that actually worked.
As we head towards another minority Parliament, it’s a reminder of what we can achieve for the country when the Greens, Labor and independents work together.
Coal and gas corporations still have deep pockets, but the tide has turned.
As a result, at the next election, we will kick the Liberals out.
And the Greens are once again in a position to be in the balance of power.
If history and current polling are a guide, the Greens could hold the balance of power in the Lower House and the Senate too.
Indeed, pushing Scott Morrison into minority Parliament will only take a few hundred people shifting their votes, but Labor needs to defy recent history to win a majority in their own right.
So a power-sharing parliament is the most likely outcome.
In balance of power, the Greens will kick the Liberals out and push the next government to take climate action.
What we can push the next government to adopt remains to be seen.
Distressingly, in a time of climate crisis, Labor wants more coal and gas. And they still take donations from coal and gas corporations. Where they’re in power in the states and territories they’re opening up new coal and gas mines and federally they’re backing the Liberals to do the same.
Pushing Labor to act on coal and gas will be a priority for us.
The Liberals won’t act at all, but Labor won’t act on coal and gas unless the Greens are there to push them.
For amongst all the tales of alternative history that get told in politics, all the ‘if onlys’ and ‘could have beens’, one stark, historical fact stands out.
The only time that pollution has meaningfully come down was when the Greens were in the balance of power.
Fortunately, if only a few hundred people change their vote, that’s where we’ll be again after the next election.

The Greens have vowed to fight Scott Morrison’s move to bankroll carbon capture and storage, saying public funds should not be funnelled to billionaire coal and gas corporations for unicorn technology.
“The way to tackle climate change is to get out of fossil fuels, but Scott Morrison wants to funnel public funds to coal and gas corporations for a unicorn technology they haven’t been able to make work themselves,” said Greens Leader, Adam Bandt.
“Today, the UN has warned that we’re heading to over 2.4C of warming unless we take urgent action by 2030. It’s time to get out of coal and gas, not fund more of it.
“Public money should go to schools, hospitals and renewables, not to tax-dodging billionaire coal and gas corporations.
“Coal and gas are not ‘clean energy’.
“The Greens secured the CEFC during the 2010 power-sharing Parliament, we made sure it couldn’t fund CCS and we’ll fight this latest attack tooth and nail.
“The government doesn’t need legislation to take ownership stakes in new start-ups. The CEFC can do that already and an investment mandate from the Minister would put it beyond doubt. The only reason the Liberals want legislation is to turn the CEFC into a slush found for coal and gas corporations.
“This is nothing to do with stopping climate change and everything to do with Scott Morrison rewarding the coal and gas corporations that donate to the Liberal and Labor parties.”
“The simplest way to stop pollution is to stop digging up and burning coal and gas in the first place, not to hope unicorn technology will one day stop coal and gas pollution escaping.
“Here lies the big trick of Scott Morrison’s climate charade. He pays coal and gas corporations to dig up fossil fuels then pays them to fail at cleaning up their pollution. They win but the rest of us lose.”

Hundreds of students studying to be doctors, nurses, midwives and allied health professionals head to Coffs Harbour every year for part of their training, consequentially creating jobs, boosting local investment and increasing access to health professionals for local patients.
Through the Australian Government’s Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training (RHMT) Program, students are exposed to many of the unique challenges facing rural patients, while experiencing the benefits of living and working on the mid-North Coast.
Federal Member for Cowper, Pat Conaghan and Regional Health Minister, Dr David Gillespie today visited the Coffs Harbour Rural Clinical School, operated by the University of New South Wales (UNSW), to meet with students and staff.
Mr Conaghan said he was proud to be part of a government that recognised the benefits of rural medical training and the challenges associated with the health workforce maldistribution.
“UNSW receives more than $28 million from the Commonwealth for its RHMT activities across a number of sites, including Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie, to give more students the opportunity to train in the regions and create local jobs,” Mr Conaghan said.
“This funding has a double benefit; students undertake part of their medical training here and in turn it creates jobs for local medical and administrative staff,” Mr Conaghan said.
“The clinical school in Coffs Harbour has 16 local staff, who supported more than 50 students to complete 12-month long medical placements last year.”
Dr Gillespie – who himself spent 10 years as Director of Physician Training at Port Macquarie Base Hospital – said the RHMT program encouraged more health professionals to practise in the bush.
“RHMT is a win-win-win for the students, the patients who can access care, and for the host communities,” Dr Gillespie said.
“There are valuable social and economic benefits, with support for local businesses through procurement of goods and services and job opportunities.
“It has been demonstrated that for every dollar spent under the RHMT program, another dollar is generated in the local economy.”
Mr Conaghan said in addition to the Rural Clinical School, UNSW’s Mid North Coast Regional Training Hub is based in Coffs Harbour, and employs seven academic and administrative staff.
“UNSW has partnered with local health organisations through the hub to assist and develop regional training pathways, support accreditation of training posts to meet community needs and improve the retention of medical trainees in the area,” he said.
Mr Conaghan said Federal Government investment also meant that around 100 medical placements were able to occur in Port Macquarie last year through UNSW’s Rural Clinical School in Port Macquarie, which employs 39 local staff.
The RHMT program also provides funding to the University of Newcastle (UoN) to operate a Department of Rural Health in Coffs Harbour. This campus enabled several medical students to undertake five-week placements during the previous academic year in Coffs Harbour.
“Last year, 120 nursing, midwifery and allied health students took part in this program, equating to over 800 training weeks undertaken locally,” Mr Conaghan said.
Twenty-one universities are currently participating in the RHMT program across Australia.
Dr Gillespie said by investing in the RHMT program, the Federal Government is highlighting the professional and personal benefits of practising in regional, rural and remote communities.
“And while the RHMT program provides short placements, there are many long-term gains, as more graduates head back to the bush to care for local communities,” Dr Gillespie said.
 

The Morrison Government will establish a new $1 billion technology fund to turbocharge investment in Australian companies to develop new low emissions technology.
The Low Emissions Technology Commercialisation Fund (the Fund) will combine $500 million of new capital for the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) with $500 million from private sector investors.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Fund would back Australian early stage companies to develop new technology.
“Our Plan to reach net zero by 2050 is an Australian one that’s focused on technology not taxes and this Fund backs in Australian companies to find new solutions,” the Prime Minister said.
“Australia can become a world leader in creating low emissions technology that is both affordable and scalable, helping get emissions down while creating jobs.
“We are backing Australian businesses by creating an environment for their successful ideas to thrive in contrast to Labor’s approach to always wanting to tax success.”
Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said the Fund demonstrates the Government’s commitment to achieve net zero emissions through investments in technology.
“The Fund will support Australian innovators to develop their intellectual property and grow their businesses in Australia,” Minister Taylor said.
“It will address a gap in the Australian market, where currently small, complex, technology-focused start-ups can be considered to be too risky to finance.
“Together with other new initiatives, like the increased investment in establishing seven Clean Hydrogen Industrial Hubs around Australia, today’s announcement brings our commitment to more than $21 billion of public investment in low emissions technologies by 2030.
“Our investment will leverage 3-5x that amount in co-investment from the private sector and other levels of government, or between $84 billion and $126 billion in total investment by 2030.”
The Government will introduce legislation to establish the Fund in this term of Parliament. The Fund is expected to earn a positive return for taxpayers.
The Fund builds on the CEFC’s success as the world’s largest government-owned green bank. The CEFC has committed $9.5 billion across 220 large scale projects and 23,700 smaller-scale transactions, driving $33 billion in new investments across the economy.