Anthony Albanese’s speech to the United Nations during “climate week” revealed just how out of touch he and his government are with the widespread community concern over runaway climate change.
Albanese delivered a sort of homily in New York on September 21. He said scientists have “warned” us about climate change and that Australia “understands the dangers of global warming and the urgency of climate action”.
He went on to praise firefighters and special emergency service workers for showing the “best of humanity” in the 2019–20 Black Summer bushfire crisis and various devastating floods.
With hand on heart, Albanese said: “There’s no avoiding the scale of our responsibility — or the cost of inaction”, before praising Australians for “choosing to electrify” with “clean, reliable, more affordable energy”.
While rooftop solar energy powers at least 13% of our energy, and Australia is on track to meet its rooftop solar targets, it is wrong to argue, as Albanese essentially did, that the climate can be “saved” by individual households choosing to go green.
As long as the big polluters — fossil fuel corporations — continue to be subsidised by governments, climate change will worsen. Climate Council research found the big polluters are expected to reduce their pollution by just 7.6% over the five years to 2030, compared to a 19% reduction across the rest of the country.
We were told the “Safeguard Mechanism” would drive industrial pollution down. But it has done very little: 197 big polluters covered by the law have reduced their pollution by only 0.4% — falling short of the 4.9% target.
This is the result of the government’s neoliberal approach to energy and the climate change problem.
The market will not reduce pollution, especially as Australia remains dependent on oil, natural gas and coal for its energy needs. Governments continue to refuse to invest the required funds in large-scale public renewable energy infrastructure. This is because they are committed to help fossil fuel corporations profiteer for as long as they can extract these resources and sell them.
Australia is one of the world’s top fossil fuel exporters, selling about 89% of black coal and 74% of gas extracted here. It is a net exporter of climate disruption.
Yet, Albanese seems to think that funding “climate resilient infrastructure” in the Pacific will be enough.
Albanese told the UN that Australia will contribute $100 million to a fund that aims to reach $1.5 billion, providing grants to Pacific Island nations for climate adaptation and disaster preparedness. Australia is also pouring on $350 million to support climate resilient infrastructure in the Pacific.
In other words, Australia is trying to buy a bit of political cover, rather than do what the Pacific nations have been calling for — real action to stop climate change by reducing fossil fuel use. Adaptation is good, but only as long as the root problems of the climate disaster are being addressed.
Australia, a co-host of COP31 with Türkiye, claims to be working with the Pacific Islands to “mitigate” climate change.
But, as the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) final communique, The Belau Declaration, reiterated: “Climate change remains the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of Pacific peoples and communities.” The PIF reaffirmed a “collective commitment to keeping the 1.5°C Paris Agreement temperature goal within reach and strengthening international action on climate change”.
Australia’s rising fossil fuel exports are making that goal unreachable.
If Albanese really is as attached to the “Pacific family” as he claims to be, we would see a proactive whole-of-government approach to phasing out fossil fuels, starting with cutting subsidies to the polluters and making them pay. The coming El Niño portends more climate disaster, with its gravest impacts on peoples who had the least to do with causing them.
Labor thinks it can get away with words and no action, but it is in for a shock: Generation Z has grown up with Black Summer bushfires and torrential flooding. It knows what is driving the climate disaster and what needs to be done.
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