It’s the first week of sitting Parliament and Labor is introducing its much-anticipated climate change bill. But if you voted for this party because you thought it would be the start of something beautiful re: climate action, then you’ll be sorely disappointed.
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen stood in Parliament today and said with his whole chest that Labour will introduce a “powerful”…. 43 per cent emissions reductions target for 2030. This is after the Greens campaigned for an emissions target of 74 per cent for 2030.
Despite this, Bowen insisted that Labor was making waves with its pitiful target.
“Our country and our parliament have wasted long enough, delaying and denying,” he said in a speech on Wednesday morning. Ironic, I know.
“We are done talking. The time for action is now. We don’t have a second to waste.”
That’s what we’re trying to tell you!! There’s no time to waste!! So make a stranger emissions target!! At this point I’ll combust before the planet will.
A picture by @ellinghausen tells a thousand words etc. The House of Representatives during debate on the government’s climate change bill a shirt time ago. pic.twitter.com/RpBV5P3cej
— Stephanie Peatling (@srpeatling) July 27, 2022
In case you weren’t feeling disillusioned enough, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also confirmed on Tuesday that Labor will *not* be banning future fossil fuel projects in its climate bill because actually that’s a “Greens” thing. Yeah, coal mining is a go.
“That’s not in our policy and we won’t be implementing that policy,” he said, per The Guardian.
“We won’t be supporting it because that would have a devastating impact on own economy.”
Okay but what about the devastating impact on our planet??? There will be no economy without Mother Earth!!
You don’t end the ‘climate wars’ by opening new coal and gas mines.
— Adam Bandt (@AdamBandt) July 27, 2022
When it was pointed out that containing emissions and avoiding global warming will be kinda hard if we don’t ditch fossil fuels, Albanese said “that’s not right”. A literal “I do not see it” meme.
In fact, Albanese *actually* argued that if we don’t fuck up the planet, someone else will anyway.
“That coal wouldn’t lead to a reduction in global emissions, what you would see is a replacement with coal from other countries that’s likely to produce higher emissions … because of the quality of the product,” he said.
Like, with that logic why should we try at all??? Sigh.
You know what they say: “Never wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it”. I’m really feeling this right now as we scream into a void.
We’re two days into Parliament and Albanese has already proved to us that he’s just another hack. Sigh.
