ON the face of things, the Coalition and Labor are offering somewhat different approaches to greenhouse gas emission reduction.
The government, much criticised by the environmental movement, has a "technology not taxes" strategy to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, with a targeted reduction of 26 per cent to 28 per cent by 2030.
Labor, somewhat chastened by losing to Scott Morrison last time around but still wanting to be more ambitious than the Coalition, claims it will reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, a reduction of two percentage points on its 2019 target.
The year, 2030, is not an arbitrary date, but the year of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, a process the United Nations says was reaffirmed in 2015 by its 193 member states - Australia included - along with 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Not surprisingly, the 17 goals include "affordable and clean energy" (number seven) and "climate action" (number 13).
Hence the widespread international view of Australia as a climate change laggard.
The Coalition has rebuffed this criticism, but Labor, by and large, has taken the high moral ground of insisting it would do more than the Coalition, whatever the issue was in climate terms.
Yet that understanding may now be in need of reappraisal, after Labor's Pat Conroy disputed a claim by the National Party's Senator Matt Canavan that Labor's emission reduction policy would hit the coal industry.
It must, Senator Canavan said, wielding a list of 15 Hunter mines he said would be impacted. If not, he says, how does Labor reach its 50 per cent higher target?
Mr Conroy says the maths add up and it's all backed by "independent" modelling.
Many in the Hunter who will be happy - or at least relieved - to hear that Labor has found wiggle room for the industry with which the ALP was once so synonymous.
On the other hand, as our Power and the Passion series is confirming, there is a growing belief in our own region that Old King Coal must consider abdicating, or risk falling victim to regicide, and that politicians of all persuasions need to realise this and take serious steps to prepare for it.
The first step is for Labor and the Coalition to clarify, in plain English, what their emissions reduction policies really mean for the NSW and Queensland coalfields.
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