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‘Bulldoze your way through’: Anthony Albanese compared to Scott Morrison in climate trigger stoush

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Monday, September 16, 2024

Anthony Albanese has been rebuked by the Senate crossbench for all but ruling out a climate trigger in environment legislation, with his take-it-or-leave-it stance compared to Scott Morrison’s description of himself as a “bulldozer”.On Monday the independent senator David Pocock labelled the prime minister’s position “really disappointing” while the Greens’ environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, warned the PM it is “not leadership to bulldoze your way through”.The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has been talking to the Greens, crossbenchers and the Coalition about legislation to establish an environment protection authority, which was a Labor commitment at the 2022 election.On Monday, Albanese was asked about a key Greens demand for a climate trigger, which would add climate to Australia’s list of nine protected matters.Albanese told reporters in Canberra that “the Greens political party have never seen any piece of legislation they’re not confused by, any piece of legislation they don’t bring up things [as] a distraction in order to justify voting against it”.“They should vote for the nature-positive legislation as it stands.“With regard to a climate trigger and other things that they’re raising, I’ve made it clear … just a couple of weeks ago that I don’t support adding a trigger to that legislation.”Albanese said that climate issues “are dealt with through the safeguard mechanism”, a policy to limit emissions of large industrial emitters which passed with Greens support, and the 43% emissions reduction target.“The Greens and the Coalition increasingly are combining to vote against good legislation … they need to get out of the way and stop coming up with excuses and start voting for solutions.”Albanese’s comments appear to contradict suggestions from Plibersek that the government could consider the climate before projects are approved, although some interpreted her remarks to the Minerals Council last week as an attempt to put pressure on the Coalition to cut a deal instead.Last week the Greens wrote to Albanese and Plibersek suggesting the minor party could settle for – if not a climate trigger – then at least climate impacts as criteria to be considered before projects are approved under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.Albanese was less definitive when asked about that option on Monday, although he labelled both Coalition claims and Greens demands “nonsense”.Hanson-Young said it was not good enough to demand the crossbench “get out of the way” because “this parliament doesn’t operate like that”.“We’re a democracy. The government does not have the numbers in the Senate. The government needs to negotiate and to work collaboratively to get outcomes. It is not leadership to bulldoze your way through.”“Our previous prime minister was a bulldozer, let’s not forget, that didn’t end so well,” she said, invoking Morrison’s ill-fated bulldozer metaphor in the dying days of his government promising a different approach if re-elected in May 2022.Crossbenchers including the Greens, Lidia Thorpe and Pocock are seeking amendments to strengthen the EPA’s independence and to protect native forests by ending the exemption from Australia’s environment laws for logging covered by a regional forest agreement.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Breaking News AustraliaGet the most important news as it breaksPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionEarlier, Pocock noted that Albanese in 2005 “moved his own bill to ensure that the EPBC Act considers climate”.“He’s known about this being a huge issue since the year I finished high school. To be in this place in 2024 and see what’s happening when it comes to our climate and biodiversity in Australia, the nature that Australians love and cherish, and have him taking these lines is pretty disappointing.“There’s a lot of people out there who are wondering why there is such a lack of leadership, vision and courage when it comes to protecting the people and places [that we love].”In 2005 Albanese introduced a bill calling for a climate trigger in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, accusing the Howard government of “procrastinating on a climate change trigger since 1999”. Hanson-Young described a climate trigger as “his own policy”.The former Labor senator turned independent Fatima Payman said she has been speaking to stakeholders on both sides and wants to balance more environmental protection with the importance of job creation.Payman said Albanese has “still not given me my full staffing allocation” making it “really difficult” to get on top of critical legislation, implicitly linking her support to granting her more staff.On Wednesday Peter Dutton told the Minerals Council the Coalition is negotiating in good faith on environmental laws.“I don’t believe that the Greens and the government can arrive at a position that wouldn’t destroy the Labor party in Western Australia,” Dutton said. “And I don’t think the prime minister is going to take that risk is my political judgment.”

Sarah Hanson-Young says PM needs to negotiate with senators after he appeared to rule out adding a climate trigger to proposed environmental lawsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAnthony Albanese has been rebuked by the Senate crossbench for all but ruling out a climate trigger in environment legislation, with his take-it-or-leave-it stance compared to Scott Morrison’s description of himself as a “bulldozer”.On Monday the independent senator David Pocock labelled the prime minister’s position “really disappointing” while the Greens’ environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, warned the PM it is “not leadership to bulldoze your way through”.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese has been rebuked by the Senate crossbench for all but ruling out a climate trigger in environment legislation, with his take-it-or-leave-it stance compared to Scott Morrison’s description of himself as a “bulldozer”.

On Monday the independent senator David Pocock labelled the prime minister’s position “really disappointing” while the Greens’ environment spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, warned the PM it is “not leadership to bulldoze your way through”.

The environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, has been talking to the Greens, crossbenchers and the Coalition about legislation to establish an environment protection authority, which was a Labor commitment at the 2022 election.

On Monday, Albanese was asked about a key Greens demand for a climate trigger, which would add climate to Australia’s list of nine protected matters.

Albanese told reporters in Canberra that “the Greens political party have never seen any piece of legislation they’re not confused by, any piece of legislation they don’t bring up things [as] a distraction in order to justify voting against it”.

“They should vote for the nature-positive legislation as it stands.

“With regard to a climate trigger and other things that they’re raising, I’ve made it clear … just a couple of weeks ago that I don’t support adding a trigger to that legislation.”

Albanese said that climate issues “are dealt with through the safeguard mechanism”, a policy to limit emissions of large industrial emitters which passed with Greens support, and the 43% emissions reduction target.

“The Greens and the Coalition increasingly are combining to vote against good legislation … they need to get out of the way and stop coming up with excuses and start voting for solutions.”

Albanese’s comments appear to contradict suggestions from Plibersek that the government could consider the climate before projects are approved, although some interpreted her remarks to the Minerals Council last week as an attempt to put pressure on the Coalition to cut a deal instead.

Last week the Greens wrote to Albanese and Plibersek suggesting the minor party could settle for – if not a climate trigger – then at least climate impacts as criteria to be considered before projects are approved under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Albanese was less definitive when asked about that option on Monday, although he labelled both Coalition claims and Greens demands “nonsense”.

Hanson-Young said it was not good enough to demand the crossbench “get out of the way” because “this parliament doesn’t operate like that”.

“We’re a democracy. The government does not have the numbers in the Senate. The government needs to negotiate and to work collaboratively to get outcomes. It is not leadership to bulldoze your way through.”

“Our previous prime minister was a bulldozer, let’s not forget, that didn’t end so well,” she said, invoking Morrison’s ill-fated bulldozer metaphor in the dying days of his government promising a different approach if re-elected in May 2022.

Crossbenchers including the Greens, Lidia Thorpe and Pocock are seeking amendments to strengthen the EPA’s independence and to protect native forests by ending the exemption from Australia’s environment laws for logging covered by a regional forest agreement.

skip past newsletter promotion

after newsletter promotion

Earlier, Pocock noted that Albanese in 2005 “moved his own bill to ensure that the EPBC Act considers climate”.

“He’s known about this being a huge issue since the year I finished high school. To be in this place in 2024 and see what’s happening when it comes to our climate and biodiversity in Australia, the nature that Australians love and cherish, and have him taking these lines is pretty disappointing.

“There’s a lot of people out there who are wondering why there is such a lack of leadership, vision and courage when it comes to protecting the people and places [that we love].”

In 2005 Albanese introduced a bill calling for a climate trigger in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, accusing the Howard government of “procrastinating on a climate change trigger since 1999”. Hanson-Young described a climate trigger as “his own policy”.

The former Labor senator turned independent Fatima Payman said she has been speaking to stakeholders on both sides and wants to balance more environmental protection with the importance of job creation.

Payman said Albanese has “still not given me my full staffing allocation” making it “really difficult” to get on top of critical legislation, implicitly linking her support to granting her more staff.

On Wednesday Peter Dutton told the Minerals Council the Coalition is negotiating in good faith on environmental laws.

“I don’t believe that the Greens and the government can arrive at a position that wouldn’t destroy the Labor party in Western Australia,” Dutton said. “And I don’t think the prime minister is going to take that risk is my political judgment.”

Read the full story here.
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Tyson Is Sued Over Labeling of ‘Climate-Smart’ Beef

An environmental group said the company, a major food producer, was misleading shoppers with its claims about eco-friendly practices.

A consumer-protection lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that Tyson Foods is misleading consumers with claims about its efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions.Environmental Working Group, an advocacy group, accused the company of taking advantage of the “well-intentioned preferences” of shoppers by making false statements in marketing materials, like saying it was working toward “net-zero” emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 and by advertising “climate-smart” beef.Industrialized beef production, the lawsuit contends, will never be “climate-smart” because of the sheer volume of emissions produced in the process of raising cows on an industrial scale. It also argued that the company had shown no evidence of an effort to get to net-zero emissions, a term used by governments and companies to signal their climate goals.“We are taking a stand to protect consumers and to demand transparency in an industry that significantly affects climate change,” Caroline Leary of EWG said in a call with reporters on Wednesday.Tyson, based in Springdale, Ark., declined to comment on the specifics of the lawsuit. A company statement pointed to its “long history of sustainable practices that embrace good stewardship of our environmental resources.”According to its website, Tyson produces about 20 percent of the beef, pork and chicken in the United States, as well as other foods under brands like Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farm, and is one of the world’s largest food companies. The company detailed its plans to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 in a 2022 sustainability report.Subscribe to The Times to read as many articles as you like.

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Liftoff: The Climate Project at MIT takes flight

The major effort to accelerate practical climate change solutions launches as its mission directors meet the Institute community.

The leaders of The Climate Project at MIT met with community members at a campus forum on Monday, helping to kick off the Institute’s major new effort to accelerate and scale up climate change solutions.“The Climate Project is a whole-of-MIT mobilization,” MIT President Sally Kornbluth said in her opening remarks. “It’s designed to focus the Institute’s talent and resources so that we can achieve much more, faster, in terms of real-world impact, from mitigation to adaptation.”The event, “Climate Project at MIT: Launching the Missions,” drew a capacity crowd to MIT’s Samberg Center.While the Climate Project has a number of facets, a central component of the effort consists of its six “missions,” broad areas where MIT researchers will seek to identify gaps in the global climate response that MIT can help fill, and then launch and execute research and innovation projects aimed at those areas. Each mission is led by campus faculty, and Monday’s event represented the first public conversation between the mission directors and the larger campus community.“Today’s event is an important milestone,” said Richard Lester, MIT’s interim vice president for climate and the Japan Steel Industry Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, who led the Climate Project’s formation. He praised Kornbluth’s sustained focus on climate change as a leading priority for MIT.“The reason we’re all here is because of her leadership and vision for MIT,” Lester said. “We’re also here because the MIT community — our faculty, our staff, our students — has made it abundantly clear that it wants to do more, much more, to help solve this great problem.”The mission directors themselves emphasized the need for deep community involvement in the project — and that the Climate Project is designed to facilitate researcher-driven enterprise across campus.“There’s a tremendous amount of urgency,” said Elsa Olivetti PhD ’07, director of the Decarbonizing Energy and Industry mission, during an onstage discussion. “We all need to do everything we can, and roll up our sleeves and get it done.” Olivetti, the Jerry McAfee Professor in Engineering, has been a professor of materials science and engineering at the Institute since 2014.“What’s exciting about this is the chance of MIT really meeting its potential,” said Jesse Kroll, co-director of the mission for Restoring the Atmosphere, Protecting the Land and Oceans. Kroll is the Peter de Florez Professor in MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, a professor of chemical engineering, and the director of the Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory.MIT, Kroll noted, features “so much amazing work going on in all these different aspects of the problem. Science, engineering, social science … we put it all together and there is huge potential, a huge opportunity for us to make a difference.”MIT has pledged an initial $75 million to the Climate Project, including $25 million from the MIT Sloan School of Management for a complementary effort, the MIT Climate Policy Center. However, the Institute is anticipating that it will also build new connections with outside partners, whose role in implementing and scaling Climate Project solutions will be critical.Monday’s event included a keynote talk from Brian Deese, currently the MIT Innovation and Climate Impact Fellow and the former director of the White House National Economic Council in the Biden administration.“The magnitude of the risks associated with climate change are extraordinary,” Deese said. However, he added, “these are solvable issues. In fact, the energy transition globally will be the greatest economic opportunity in human history. … It has the potential to actually lift people out of poverty, it has the potential to drive international cooperation, it has the potential to drive innovation and improve lives — if we get this right.”Deese’s remarks centered on a call for the U.S. to develop a current-day climate equivalent of the Marshall Plan, the U.S. initiative to provide aid to Western Europe after World War II. He also suggested three characteristics of successful climate projects, noting that many would be interdisciplinary in nature and would “engage with policy early in the design process” to become feasible.In addition to those features, Deese said, people need to “start and end with very high ambition” when working on climate solutions. He added: “The good thing about MIT and our community is that we, you, have done this before. We’ve got examples where MIT has taken something that seemed completely improbable and made it possible, and I believe that part of what is required of this collective effort is to keep that kind of audacious thinking at the top of our mind.” The MIT mission directors all participated in an onstage discussion moderated by Somini Sengupta, the international climate reporter on the climate team of The New York Times. Sengupta asked the group about a wide range of topics, from their roles and motivations to the political constraints on global climate progress, and more.Andrew Babbin, co-director of the mission for Restoring the Atmosphere, Protecting the Land and Oceans, defined part of the task of the MIT missions as “identifying where those gaps of knowledge are and filling them rapidly,” something he believes is “largely not doable in the conventional way,” based on small-scale research projects. Instead, suggested Babbin, who is the Cecil and Ida Green Career Development Professor in MIT’s Program in Atmospheres, Oceans, and Climate, the collective input of research and innovation communities could help zero in on undervalued approaches to climate action.Some innovative concepts, the mission directors noted, can be tried out on the MIT campus, in an effort to demonstrate how a more sustainable infrastructure and systems can operate at scale.“That is absolutely crucial,” said Christoph Reinhart, director of the Building and Adapting Healthy, Resilient Cities mission, expressing the need to have the campus reach net-zero emissions. Reinhart is the Alan and Terri Spoon Professor of Architecture and Climate and director of MIT’s Building Technology Program in the School of Architecture and Planning.In response to queries from Sengupta, the mission directors affirmed that the Climate Project needs to develop solutions that can work in different societies around the world, while acknowledging that there are many political hurdles to worldwide climate action.“Any kind of quality engaged projects that we’ve done with communities, it’s taken years to build trust. … How you scale that without compromising is the challenge I’m faced with,” said Miho Mazereeuw, director of the Empowering Frontline Communities mission, an associate professor of architecture and urbanism, and director of MIT’s Urban Risk Lab.“I think we will impact different communities in different parts of the world in different ways,” said Benedetto Marelli, an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, adding that it would be important to “work with local communities [and] engage stakeholders, and at the same time, use local brains to solve the problem.” The mission he directs, Wild Cards, is centered on identifying unconventional solutions that are high risk and also high reward.Any climate program “has to be politically feasible, it has to be in separate nations’ self-interest,” said Christopher Knittel, mission director for Inventing New Policy Approaches. 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EU Issues 'Climate Breakdown' Warning Amid Record Flooding And Deadly Wildfires

The worst flooding in years has hit a broad swath of Central Europe. At the other end of the 27-nation bloc, raging fires through Portugal have killed at least six.

BRUSSELS (AP) — Devastating floods through much of Central Europe and deadly wildfires in Portugal are joint proof of a “climate breakdown” that will become the norm unless drastic action is taken, the European Union’s head office said Wednesday.“Make no mistake. This tragedy is not an anomaly. This is fast becoming the norm for our shared future,” said EU Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic.The worst flooding in years moved Tuesday across a broad swath of Central Europe, taking lives and destroying homes. At the other end of the 27-nation EU, raging fires through northern Portugal have killed at least six people.“Europe is the fastest warming continent globally and is particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events like the one we are discussing today. We could not return to a safer past,” Lenarcic told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France.He warned that beyond the human cost, nations are also struggling to cope with mounting bills for repairing the damage from emergencies and the lengthy recovery from disaster.“The average cost of disasters in the 1980s was 8 billion euros per year. More recently in 2021 and in 2022, the damage is surpassed 50 billion euros per year, meaning the cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of action,” he said.Terry Reintke, president of the Greens group in the European Parliament, said the cost for the EU since the 1980s was estimated at 650 billion euros.The EU is struggling to move quickly with measures to counter climate change and has run into political opposition in many member states, where the political climate is turning against environmental issues and measures ranging from home heating to farm pollution.“Our success will depend on how determined we are to combat climate change together in order to reduce emissions,” Reintke said, adding that EU members must back its Green Deal. Support Free JournalismConsider supporting HuffPost starting at $2 to help us provide free, quality journalism that puts people first.Can't afford to contribute? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. We hope you'll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.Support HuffPostAlready contributed? Log in to hide these messages.The vast EU plan to become climate neutral by 2050 has come under increasing pressure from critics who call it unrealistic and too expensive. Populist and far-right parties have made it a key point of attack on the bloc’s institutions.Lenarcic said people only needed to follow the daily news to understand the urgency of the issue.“We face a Europe that is simultaneously flooding and burning. These extreme weather events ... are now an almost annual occurrence,” he said. “The global reality of the climate breakdown has moved into the everyday lives of Europeans.”Support Free JournalismConsider supporting HuffPost starting at $2 to help us provide free, quality journalism that puts people first.Can't afford to contribute? Support HuffPost by creating a free account and log in while you read.Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. Would you consider becoming a regular HuffPost contributor?Thank you for your past contribution to HuffPost. We are sincerely grateful for readers like you who help us ensure that we can keep our journalism free for everyone.The stakes are high this year, and our 2024 coverage could use continued support. We hope you'll consider contributing to HuffPost once more.Support HuffPostAlready contributed? Log in to hide these messages.

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EU Warns Deadly Flooding and Wildfires Show Climate Breakdown Is Fast Becoming the Norm

The European Union's head office is warning that devastating floods through much of Central Europe and deadly wildfires in Portugal are joint proof of a “climate breakdown” that will become the norm unless drastic action is taken

“Make no mistake. This tragedy is not an anomaly. This is fast becoming the norm for our shared future,” said EU Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic. The worst flooding in years moved Tuesday across a broad swath of Central Europe, taking lives and destroying homes. At the other end of the 27-nation EU, raging fires through northern Portugal have killed at last six people. “Europe is the fastest warming continent globally and is particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events like the one we are discussing today. We could not return to a safer past,” Lenarcic told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France. He warned that beyond the human cost, nations are also struggling to cope with mounting bills for repairing the damage from emergencies and the lengthy recovery from disaster.“The average cost of disasters in the 1980s was 8 billion euros per year. More recently in 2021 and in 2022, the damage is surpassed 50 billion euros per year, meaning the cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of action,” he said. Terry Reintke, president of the Greens group in the European Parliament, said the cost for the EU since the 1980s was estimated at 650 billion euros.The EU is struggling to move quickly with measures to counter climate change and has run into political opposition in many member states, where the political climate is turning against environmental issues and measures ranging from home heating to farm pollution.“Our success will depend on how determined we are to combat climate change together in order to reduce emissions,” Reintke said, adding that EU members must back its Green Deal. The vast EU plan to become climate neutral by 2050 has come under increasing pressure from critics who call it unrealistic and too expensive. Populist and far-right parties have made it a key point of attack on the bloc's institutions. Lenarcic said people only needed to follow the daily news to understand the urgency of the issue.“We face a Europe that is simultaneously flooding and burning. These extreme weather events ... are now an almost annual occurrence,” he said. “The global reality of the climate breakdown has moved into the everyday lives of Europeans.” Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - July 2024

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More than £494bn subsidies a year are harmful to the climate, says report

ActionAid says ‘parasitic behaviour’ is fuelling the climate crisis and represents ‘corporate capture’ of public financeMore than $650bn (£494bn) a year in public subsidies goes to fossil fuel companies, intensive agriculture and other harmful industries in the developing world, new data has shown.The subsidies entrench high greenhouse gas emissions and are fuelling the destruction of the natural world, according to a report from the charity ActionAid. Continue reading...

More than $650bn (£494bn) a year in public subsidies goes to fossil fuel companies, intensive agriculture and other harmful industries in the developing world, new data has shown.The subsidies entrench high greenhouse gas emissions and are fuelling the destruction of the natural world, according to a report from the charity ActionAid.Developed countries are also actively subsidising such harmful activities. The UK, for instance, devotes about $7.3bn a year to effective subsidies for fossil fuels.Taken altogether, the sums involved in the developing world would be enough to pay for the education of all children in sub-Saharan Africa three and a half times over, each year.By contrast, developing countries are receiving only a fraction of those sums in climate finance, which would help them to move away from dirty and polluting industries towards a clean and low-carbon economy. Renewable energy projects in the developing world are receiving 40 times less than the fossil fuel sector, the analysis found.Subsidies for dirty industries and intensive agriculture have for decades been one of the most intractable obstacles to shifting the global economy to a low-carbon footing. The International Energy Agency, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation and other institutions have repeatedly called for a reduction in these subsidies.However, some of them are used to benefit the poor or to soften the blow of price rises or other shocks. That was the case in recent years in the UK when energy prices rose, prompting the government to help households with an energy price guarantee. Other countries made similar moves, which, ironically, along with the soaring prices helped fossil fuel companies to an unprecedented bonanza, much of which is being re-invested in new oil and gas exploration instead of clean and renewable energy.But in many countries, subsidies are directed towards industries regarded as politically important, or which have powerful lobbies.ActionAid analysts, describing their findings in a report entitled How the Finance Flows: Corporate capture of public finance fuelling the climate crisis in the global south, published on Wednesday, said many of the subsidies were owing to “corporate capture” of the government and public institutions.“This report exposes wealthy corporations’ parasitic behaviour,” said Arthur Larok, the secretary general of ActionAid International. “They are draining the life out of the global south by siphoning public funds and fuelling the climate crisis.”But he blamed governments in rich countries too. “Sadly the promises of climate finance by the global north are as hollow as the empty rhetoric they have been uttering for decades,” he said. “It is time for this circus to end. We need genuine commitments to ending the climate crisis.”ActionAid also found it was not necessary for developing countries to adopt the high-carbon and intensive agricultural practices that have destroyed nature and created the climate crisis, as developing countries could move swiftly to a low-carbon model that would still enable them to grow and prosper.The authors called for an end to destructive subsidies, more public finance from rich countries to be directed towards low-carbon efforts in the developing world, and for more stringent regulation of the banking sector that would require minimum standards for human rights, and social and environmental considerations, before finance is directed towards destructive industries.

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