12/08/21

 

Scott Morrison’s response to the IPCC report on the physical impacts of climate change was to again knock back the essential starting point to climate change action, net zero emissions by 2050.       

This report confirms that in Australia temperatures are already on average 1.4 degrees hotter and getting warmer. That’s higher than the global average.

This looks like:

 

  • Increasing extremes such as the ongoing drought and devastating floods of recent years;
  • Increases in the severity of the deadly heatwaves heatwaves we experience every year; and
  • Greater intensity and duration of our bushfire season, like we horrifically endured last year. 

 

This warming is caused by human activity and it’s a race to do something about it.

The first step is the electrification of the economy and the news in this report will contribute further to the rapid global shift towards renewable energy.

By investing in renewables, we could be creating thousands of good-paying jobs in growing industries and making power cheaper for homes and businesses alike.

We have a once in a generation opportunity for Australia to jump ahead of the pack – with Australian renewable energy, made by our workers and our technology here at home, being exported to a world hungry with demand.

Instead, we are saddled with a Prime Minister who refuses to act.  

The world’s climate emergency is Australia’s jobs opportunity.

Labor’s plan to create jobs and cut emissions includes a commitment to net zero by 2050 and outlining a strong roadmap to get there.

We will invest $20 billion to Rewire the Nation, urgently upgrading the electricity grid, using local content and creating local jobs while we do it, to bring on renewables.

We will provide incentives for 10,000 young Australians to train in the new energy jobs of the future.

We will end Morrison’s scaremongering on electric vehicles and cut taxes to make them cheaper.

We will install 400 community batteries across the country, reducing power bills and cutting emissions.

We will prioritise offshore wind regulations to unlock the billions of dollars and thousands of jobs for Australia’s regions that Morrison is stalling.

We have a Government divided even on the basic science of climate change, unable to commit to net zero by 2050, let alone able to deliver on the opportunities the changing global economy presents for Australia’s future.