"Global warming is the greatest challenge of our times," said Zali Steggall, MP for Warringah, when last Wednesday the Labor government presented its bill to reduce emissions by 43% by 2030 below 2005 levels. .
After ten years, of denial first and minimization later, Australia will approve a text to comply with the Paris Agreement, which will force the Climate Change Minister, Chris Bowen, to report to Parliament annually and with objectives every five years until neutrality in 2050 that will affect all state agencies. Quite a change of course for the world's third largest exporter of fossil fuels.
In Canberra, Steggall, a former Olympic medalist who in 2019 won the seat against former Liberal Prime Minister Tony Abbot, defined climate change as a "key factor" that made her enter politics as an independent: "More than 30 years ago we were warned , but we have failed to find the political will to implement solutions.” Rebecca Colvin, Professor of Resources, Environment and Development at the Crawford School of Public Policy, says that now "the debate about how we deal with climate change will turn from symbolic terrain to tangible issues."
Surveys show that three out of four Australians are concerned about climate change and that 66% are in favor of not opening new mines, data that shaped the results of the May elections: Labor victory, good results for greens and independents and collapse of the Liberals, especially in peri-urban areas, who gave up the government after 10 years. For Colvin, who has worked in the Hunter Valley (NSW), where "you see the mining logo everywhere", there are no differences between people in cities and regions: "People in these areas are concerned about their future, but they don't know who to trust, they don't feel like the government or the agencies are doing anything to help them."
The text of the Labor Executive will reach the Senate next month after negotiating the support of the Greens. "In this Parliament the only obstacle to being more ambitious on climate matters is Labor," said Adam Bandt, leader of the environmentalists, who announced his support for the government's "weak" law, with which they will continue negotiating so that "no open more mines”. "The Greens are seeking, and perhaps succeeding, in getting the federal government to withdraw financial support, subsidies or deals that pave the way for these projects," says Guardian Australia economics reporter Peter Hannam. This is one of the key points for Bandt, who told journalists that a single project of the 114 new projected mines would blow up the target of 43%.
In 2021-22 alone, the federal and state governments dedicated 11,000 million dollars (7.5 billion euros) in subsidies and fiscal surpluses for the fossil industry.
One example is the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory, where fracking gas prospecting raised $50 million (€34 million) from the Morrison Government in a reserve estimated to have enough gas to supply the entire country for 200 years. “[Labor] see that they have nothing to gain by saying stop the mines, because it would mean losing votes in some areas,” Hannam says, “meanwhile, underhand you make sure that it is more difficult for them to receive funding or comply with the law". As happened on Thursday in Queensland, where Tanya Plibersek, Minister for the Environment, blocked billionaire Clive Palmer's project to open a mine ten kilometers from the Great Barrier Reef.
Not only greens and independents voted in favor. The Liberal MP for Bass (Tasmania) Bridget Archer crossed the bench and joined the Labor proposal, ensuring that climate change transcends “political beliefs”. The LNP, which has produced the last three prime ministers, is now dominated by members from Queensland, leaning more to the right. Its leader, Peter Dutton, charged against the Government with the proposal of nuclear energy, something new in Australia: "They like the idea of nuclear because there is mining -says Hannam-, but also because they cannot admit, and I am also talking about Murdoch's media, which has been wrong for a long time."
