The failure of Labor policy on climate change a decade ago this week has led to a bitter but predictable argument over the blame for an upheaval that shapes Australian politics to this day. The rise and fall of Australian leaders, the success and failure of political parties, the progress and setbacks on climate change policy – all can be traced to the decisions in the Senate to veto the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in December 2009.
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| Illustration: Michael Mucci |
The vote followed the fall of Malcolm Turnbull as leader of the Liberals, the rise of Tony Abbott on a mission to kill a price on carbon, the struggle by Kevin Rudd as prime minister to secure a deal and the crucial decision of the Greens to reject a workable scheme in the confidence – fatally misguided – they would gain a better solution over time.
Parliament staged a flashback when Penny Wong, the Labor leader in the Senate, moved a motion to praise the CPRS and condemn those who blocked the bill. When the vote came, it was eerily similar to the one a decade earlier. Labor sat on one side of the chamber. The Liberals, Nationals and Greens sat on the other.
The result was a reminder of the unchanging dynamics in Australian politics – and especially the permanent competition between Labor and the Greens.
Read the opinion piece from The Age by David Crowe - “The great dividing rage of Australian politics.”
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