Anthony Albanese has accused the Greens of “gesture-based climate amendments” to Labor’s environment legislation in a speech defending his government’s reform record and its relationship with big business.
In an address to the Business Council of Australia on Tuesday evening, Albanese said Labor is “pro-business and pro-worker” and sought to distinguish himself from Peter Dutton by arguing he respects their views even when he disagrees.
Labor has come under fire from the BCA and the Minerals Council, who are fighting a rearguard action against industrial relations changes including multi-employer bargaining – passed in December 2022 – and same job same pay – passed late last year.
Dutton has revived political debate about the measures by suggesting the Coalition could repeal some elements of Labor’s policies if he wins the next election.
At the same time, Albanese has courted the Coalition’s vote on legislation to establish an Environmental Protection Agency, rejecting the Greens’ demands for a climate trigger in the legislation.
Albanese told the BCA Labor had “brought vital certainty to energy policy, after the chaos of the climate wars”. He said the BCA had backed Labor’s 2030 target of 43% emissions reduction and its commitment to net zero by 2050.
“Setting those targets sends an important signal to the market and the world – but the real test is whether you have a plan to get there.
“That’s what our safeguards mechanism is about.
“This is a practical framework which has been accepted – which is why you don’t need the gesture-based climate amendments advanced by the Greens political party to our nature-positive legislation.”
Albanese said he is “optimistic” about achieving economic reform with business “by recognising each other’s strengths, respecting each other’s views and valuing each other’s contribution”.
“We have different responsibilities that demand different approaches, so it is inevitable we will have occasional differences of opinion.
“But for me those points of disagreement have never defined or diminished our engagement.”
Albanese said Labor understands “secure jobs and fair wages depend on thriving businesses, just as we know productivity gains depend on skilled workers and safe workplaces”.
In an apparent reference to Greens’ policies to make price gouging illegal and the Coalition’s policy of forced divestiture of supermarket giants, Albanese said in the past two years “we’ve stood against some pretty extreme anti-business policies” put forward by the crossbench “and perhaps more surprisingly, by the opposition”.
Albanese also said Labor had “stood up for some of Australia’s biggest employers, when others have attacked you for holding a view different to their own”.
In January Dutton called for a boycott of Woolworths over its decision to stop stocking Australia Day merchandise. He has frequently criticised corporate advocacy on social issues, including during the Indigenous voice referendum.
“We don’t do any of this because it’s politically convenient,” Albanese said. “We do it out of respect for what you do – and because we value what you say.”
The BCA president, Geoff Culbert, said the council will “continue to argue strongly against counter-productive IR changes”, “forced divestiture”, climate triggers and “self-destructive over-taxation”.
Bran Black, the CEO of the BCA, argued chief executives “feel we are losing our way”, and took aim at reforms including multi-employer bargaining, warning that “for a good job to be well paid, it has to exist first”.
Black said employers are “more cautious about hiring after the government’s raft of recent workplace changes” and claimed the reforms had “reduced our competitiveness as a nation”.
Earlier on Tuesday Albanese defended Labor’s industrial relations changes.
