THE FEDERAL OPPOSITION has distinguished itself from the Morrison Government on climate change presenting a far superior policy.
"The last Angry Summer of extreme heat, fire and floods shows we are facing a climate crisis. The difference between the two major parties on addressing climate change is now as stark as night and day. Bill Shorten has a fire truck, while Scott Morrison is holding a watering can," said the Climate Council's CEO, Amanda McKenzie.
"Labor's has presented a climate package today tackling big polluters like transport," said Ms McKenzie.
"The Federal Government has done nothing on climate change for five years. There's been scare tactic after scare tactic. The Australian public wants solutions not scare mongering," she said.
"Labor is promising to put a cap on the country's dirtiest industries. This tightening of the "safeguard mechanism" is a pragmatic move to drive down pollution outside the electricity sector," said Ms McKenzie.
The Climate Council welcomes the following:
- Putting a cap on the country's dirtiest industries, through tightening of the "safeguard mechanism"
- Additional funding for the expert Climate Change Authority, which had its budget slashed under the Coalition
- A comprehensive Electric Vehicle policy which aims to ensure 50% of new car sales by 2030 are EVs
- A commitment to rule out dodgy accounting practices with Kyoto 'carryover' credits
- Labor's target to ensure 50 per cent of the nation's electricity is sourced from renewable energy by 2030.
"Australia is one of the sunniest and windiest countries in the world. We need to continue to move away from coal, oil and gas and invest in the new, clean economy," said Ms McKenzie.
"Thousands of jobs will be created as we continue this transition, providing a boost to the economy and significantly more renewable energy. This will increase supply and bring down power prices," she said.
"This policy would be a huge step forward from where we are now, but if the ALP is elected it will need to be rapidly ratcheted up," she said.
