Only an ambitious government can reap the economic benefits of the net zero transition for the Australian people, and ambition is in short supply.<\/p>\n
Labor continues to talk out of both sides of its mouth, setting a target range in line with its usual pragmatic caution, while simultaneously endorsing fossil fuel expansion despite the existential threat of climate change to the region.<\/p>\n
No wonder PNG and Vanuatu have reservations about signing exclusive security agreements with us.<\/p>\n
At the same time the Coalition \u2013 or what\u2019s left of it \u2013 is making it easy for the government to look reasonable, by again disputing the long-settled moral and scientific arguments about climate policy. It\u2019s as if they don\u2019t realise such discredited, antediluvian obscurantism has helped cost them two elections \u2013 each time by a greater margin.<\/p>\n
Next, they\u2019ll be telling us the Earth is flat, and Copernicus got the movement of the planets wrong.<\/p>\n
While her frontbench threatened to walk unless she dumped net zero by 2050, the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, touted the Coalition\u2019s economic credentials in a recent speech<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is a befuddling contradiction.<\/p>\n Ley says a key criterion of net zero is stable, reliable and affordable energy while her own Coalition continues to undermine the prospect of achieving those very things by destabilising investment in the energy transition.<\/p>\n With nuclear too slow and expensive, ailing coal-fired power stations not worth fixing, and the cost of gas weighing on consumers, business certainty and clear policy settings are critical<\/a> to enable investment in renewable energy.<\/p>\n Yet the Coalition\u2019s flip-flopping, which is underpinned by personal ambition by particular members of its frontbench, is playing dangerous games with the Australian economy and with it the future prosperity of our nation.<\/p>\n That\u2019s you, your kids, and your grandkids; their safety, their national security, their jobs, their quality of life, not forgetting the disruptive consequences for our immediate neighbourhood.<\/p>\n That includes inundation of low lying cities like Bangkok and Jakarta and climate-related food shortages that could trigger instability across the region.<\/p>\n The horrifying, delayed and entirely unsurprising national climate risk assessment released last week backs this up.<\/p>\n As reported here<\/a>, \u201ceverything will be affected\u201d, the economy, food systems and communities, health, national security, First Nations people, transport, energy and the natural environment.<\/p>\n Are we going to be stupid, or are we going to be smart? And which leaders will reflect our choice?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Well, duh. Anyone who\u2019s been affected by a flood, fire, storm or drought; had their insurance costs go up; experienced a transport delay, energy interruption or been unable to buy a banana due to a weather event knows this is already upon us. And that\u2019s pretty much every Australian.<\/p>\n So, are we going to be stupid? Or are we going to be smart? And which leaders will reflect our choice?<\/p>\n Because it\u2019s the cost of not doing it that we should be focused on.<\/p>\n As the CSIRO said<\/a> in 2019: \u201cUnder a \u2018slow decline\u2019 scenario by 2060 where Australia fails to adequately address climate change and sustainability challenges, GDP is projected to grow at 0.7% less per year and real wages would be 50% lower than under an \u2018outlook scenario\u2019 where Australia meets climate change and sustainability challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n To be clear, a \u201cslow decline\u201d, in which Australia fails to adequately address the challenges identified, will lead to poorer outcomes across multiple dimensions.<\/p>\n Treasury modelling released alongside the climate target range repeats this, estimating that a \u201cdisorderly transition\u201d would result in an economy $1.2tn smaller.<\/p>\n That means fewer jobs that are less well-paying, lower standards of living for our kids and grandkids and the social disruption and dislocation that goes with it. Oh, and higher energy prices.<\/p>\n More \u201cmarches for Australia\u201d anyone?<\/p>\n