Penny Wong says Labor will try and undo Abbott's legacy on climate policy

The shadow foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says Labor will beef up international approaches to combating climate change, including with work in the Pacific and with Asean countries, in an effort to restore lost credibility as a consequence of repealing the carbon price.

Penny Wong and Tanya Plibersek. The shadow foreign affairs
 minister will argue Tony Abbott’s actions on the carbon price
damaged Australia’s reputation on climate change.

Wong will use a speech to a climate conference in Melbourne on Tuesday to commit Labor to reinstituting the position of climate change ambassador, and broadening Australia’s work in the Pacific through the Council of Regional Organisations of the Pacific, the Pacific Islands Forum, the Pacific Community (formerly the South Pacific Commission) and the secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program.

The shadow foreign minister will argue Australia, if it wants to be a serious international player on global warming, needs to demonstrate constructive internationalism.

Read Katherine Murphy’s story from The Guardian - “Penny Wong says Labor will try and undo Abbott's legacy on climate policy.”

Labor says it will reach 50% renewable energy regardless of PM's guarantee

The shadow climate change minister, Mark Butler, says if state governments don’t veto the Turnbull government’s national energy guarantee, and if the policy passes into law, Labor will ramp up the level of emissions reduction in the event it wins the next federal election.

Mark Butler and the opposition leader, Bill Shorten.
Butler says Labor has been ‘crystal clear’ on energy policy. 

Butler says Labor has been “crystal clear” in discussions with industry stakeholders, and with state governments, that it will use any mechanism, either one of its own, or one it inherits, to drive 50% renewable energy by 2030.

In an interview with Guardian Australia’s Politics Live podcast, Butler says it is not relevant at the moment whether federal Labor supports or opposes the government’s new national energy guarantee, because the Turnbull government will not be in a position to implement it if the states veto it.

Read Katharine Murphy’s story on The Guardian - “Labor says it will reach 50% renewable energy regardless of PM's guarantee.”

Dumping clean energy target is 'dealbreaker' for Labor's support

Shadow climate change
minister Mark Butler.

The shadow climate change minister Mark Butler says Labor won’t support the Turnbull government’s new energy policy if it dumps the clean energy target recommended by the chief scientist, Alan Finkel.

With the Turnbull government expected to press ahead with its new energy policy this week after consideration by the cabinet and the party room, Butler issued a clear public warning on Sunday that the loss of the clean energy target meant there was no prospect of bipartisan agreement between the major parties.

Butler said Labor had been prepared to keep an open mind on the clean energy target, even though it was not the opposition’s preferred policy option, because the model had been thought through by the chief scientist and endorsed uniformly by stakeholders across the community.

Read Katharine Murphy’s story on The Guardian - “Dumping clean energy target is 'dealbreaker' for Labor's support.”