Moderate Liberal MP Bridget Archer remains open to crossing the floor to support Labor’s 43% emissions reduction target, but says Anthony Albanese needs to tone down his “inflammatory” rhetoric if he wants to end the climate wars.
While Peter Dutton has declared the Coalition will oppose Labor’s legislation enshrining a more ambitious 2030 target, Archer said: “I think we need more ambitious action on climate change and I remain open [to supporting the government’s bill].”
But she said the prime minister’s rhetoric this week “blaming the Greens for a decade of climate inaction smacks of ideology” and was “potentially a bad signal if you want to work together and get this done”.
Archer said she understood the new government was trying to get their election commitment legislated, but she said labelling political opponents as enemies of action was game-playing “inconsistent with the idea of ending the climate wars” and would probably “embolden other ideologues”.
Archer’s persistent signal that she could support Labor’s target came as senior Liberal moderate Simon Birmingham made it clear on Thursday that Dutton had made a captain’s call when he declared the Coalition would oppose Labor’s 43% target.
He told the ABC the decision to oppose Labor’s legislation had not yet been to the shadow cabinet or the Liberal party room.
“All of these things have a process to go through … through our shadow cabinet, through our party room,” he said.
Birmingham said legislating an emissions reduction target was not, strictly speaking, necessary, which was a point Dutton had made. But the new shadow minister for foreign affairs also made it clear he was open to assessing Labor’s legislation: “Let’s see what the government is proposing and the full construct of that legislation.”
Positioning within the opposition ahead of the opening of the 47th parliament comes as Labor faces escalating pressure to beef up its legislation giving effect to the 43% target.
The political temperature around Labor’s climate commitments has ramped up significantly in recent days, with the Greens declaring Labor is intent on a take it or leave it approach.
Visiting Fiji for the Pacific Islands Forum, Albanese said the government intended to introduce the 2030 emissions reduction target of 43% that it put to voters at the May election.
The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, met on Thursday with climate focused independents and representatives from the Greens to share a draft of the bill to be introduced during the first week of parliament.
Bowen didn’t depart from the PM’s line but he struck a more conciliatory note, saying afterwards: “The government has made it very clear that we are happy to work with the cross bench on sensible suggestions that are in keeping with our agenda and mandate.”
Labor has the numbers to pass the legislation in the House of Representatives, but could face opposition from the Greens who could vote down the bill in the Senate.
After Thursday’s meeting, the Greens leader Adam Bandt said Labor’s draft legislation was problematic because it “makes 43% effectively a legislated ceiling” and that would mean any future government could not “lift the legally enshrined targets without coming back to parliament”.
