Labor calls on PM to dump direct action policy in light of Paris climate deal

Extract from The Guardian

Labor’s environment spokesman says Paris agreement objectives are clear and Malcolm Turnbull needs to match Australia’s policies to these objectives

French President François Hollande (centre) applauds delegates with French ecology minister Ségolène Royal and foreign affairs minister Laurent Fabius at the world climate change conference in Paris. Photograph: Philippe Wojazer/EPA

Australian Associated Press

Sunday 13 December 2015 18.22 AEDT

Labor has called on the prime minister to dump the Coalition’s direct action policy in response to the historic United Nations climate agreement in Paris.

The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, welcomed the global commitment to holding increases in average temperatures to well below 2C and the further commitment to pursue efforts to limit increases to 1.5C.

“The objectives of the agreement are crystal clear and Australia now needs to match policies to these objectives,” Shorten and Labor’s environment spokesman, Mark Butler, said in a joint statement on Sunday.

But they said the government’s direct action policy that paid polluters was completely inadequate and put Australia on a trajectory to fail.

“Now is the time for Malcolm Turnbull to step up and dump his party’s continuing support for Tony Abbott’s direct action fraud.”“He must show leadership and honesty on climate change and stare down the National party and the far right of his Liberal party.”

The Paris climate accord has been received with widespread relief in Australia.

But questions have been raised about whether Australia can reach what the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, readily admits is an ambitious target.

Bishop described the deal, which includes five-yearly reviews of countries’ progress on slashing emissions, as an extraordinary achievement.

But she warned the hard work begins now and while boosting efforts will be difficult, the government won’t be jeopardising the economy.

“We have to get that balance right between environmental and economic outcomes,” she told reporters in Paris.

The acting Greens leader, Larissa Waters, welcomed the outcome but said Australia remained wedded to the coal industry as international counterparts looked to clean energy alternatives.

“We know so much is at stake and here in Australia we’ve got so much to lose by continuing to have our head in the sand on global warming,” Waters told reporters in Brisbane.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott was more upbeat, saying Australia has made a solid contribution to what is significant progress.

“With the ongoing reviews of targets it will be important for Australia to set in place the policies to achieve its reduction at low cost while managing competitiveness,” she said.

Environmentalist Tim Flannery also described it as a watershed moment.

“We have witnessed something incredible today. Finally, we can feel hopeful that we are on a path to tackling climate change,” Flannery, who is a member of the Climate Council, said on Sunday. “The era of renewable energy is upon us.”

The chief executive of WWF Australia, Dermot O’Gorman, agreed: “Paris marks the end of the fossil fuel age.”