Tamara Smith MP, Greens Member for Ballina, has today criticised the NSW government’s proposed Climate Change (Net Zero Future) Bill 2023, as residents of the Northern Rivers experience more frequent extreme weather events.
The bill matches the previous Liberal National government’s targets of 50 per cent by 2030 and net-zero by 2050, but does not include an interim target for 2035. The previous Liberal National target was 70 per cent emissions reduction by 2035.
The bill also makes no mention of coal and gas projects, despite calls from the International Energy Agency to place a moratorium on all new coal and gas projects in order to stay below 1.5 degrees of global heating, in line with the Paris Agreement.
‘There’s nothing more shocking than being briefed about fires ravaging your community, and then learning that the Labor government wants to scale back our climate targets in New South Wales,’ said Tamara Smith.
‘Labor’s new targets are worse than the Liberal Nationals before them, who at least had a target to reach 70 per cent emission reduction by 2035. It’s extremely disappointing that Labor, who were elected on the promise of climate action, have decided to take a step backwards on climate.’
Coal and gas ignored
‘Labor’s bill makes no mention of coal and gas,’ said Ballina MP Tamara Smith. ‘If you don’t have a plan to phase out coal and gas, you don’t have a plan to save our communities from the climate crisis.
‘The climate science is crystal clear – we need net zero by 2035, and we can’t open a single new coal mine or gas project,’ she said.
‘We cannot afford to ignore the science on climate. Our community’s health and wellbeing is at stake, as well as thousands of jobs in tourism and agriculture.
‘I know that old party politicians love to meet with fossil fuel lobbyists, but I encourage them to meet with everyday people in my electorate,’ said Ms Smith.
‘I encourage the government to talk to the residents of Wardell, who have seen their homes washed away in floods, or to the residents of Brunswick Heads, who have been breathing in heavy smoke over the past few weeks.
‘The Greens won’t stand by and let this happen. And I won’t support any legislation that will take us backwards on climate while my community battles fire and floods. I look forward to negotiating with the government and pressuring them to go further and faster for action to halt the worst scenarios of global warming.
‘Insecure housing and global warming are the most critical issues our community faces,’ she said.
The Greens are supporting calls from leading climate scientists, including the Climate Council, to reach net zero by 2035.
Since when have fires and floods been unusual events in Australia?. Maybe Tamara can tell all how the greens intend to substitute the revenue earned from coal and gas if they are closed down. Well Tamara, over to you, please explain.
Perhaps you missed that the Fire Service had to create a new higher intensity section for the public’s ‘fire intensity’ signs, and that the all the formal first responder organisations identify that climate change is driving higher intensity fires and longer fire seasons. And perhaps you missed the scientists explaining the exact process where increased levels of carbon emissions are causing increased temperatures, and the heating evidence from global data collectors, and missed the understanding of how the evidenced heating of our oceans causes increased evaporation, with warmer air holding more moisture ( which comes down in increased intensity of flooding.
Do some research instead of pumping out your fallacious nonsense, or is fallacious nonsense to obfuscate the problem actually your prime intention.
Yes the Labor Party is in a bind – acting to stop further climate change driving pollution means loss of revenue from coal and gas, which is also a major political problem, but not acting on the science means an ongoing increasing levels of catastrophe.
Try the Heartland Institute. They explain all about climate boiling.
Setting emissions targets has to be more than a philosophical exercise. As well as these targets Labor is setting ambitions targets for increasing the level of power generated by renewables and trying to catch up on a lost decade. Emissions targets need to reflect what is thus achievable.
It’s the job of Government to ensure that things like hospitals and industries can keep going but the Greens can invent figures without the need to implement them.
when has Tamara ever explained anything ? IM a true green but I would never vote for her to represent me.
Well Gregrrrrr, try the 2019/20 National Bushfire Apocalypse and the 2022 – 2023 Rolling Record Flood Disasters around Australia, to bone up on, “unusual events”, as you put it.
And Gregrrrrrr, try a bit of reading of the Greens policy document, ‘Renew Australia 2030:Powering past coal for a future for all of us’, to see what the solution looks like.
Happy to help, again. Over to you old son.
That’s right Greg. Weather never happened before 1960. It was all rainbows and bunnies.
You call that weather? That wasn’t weather!
Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years.
You had a spot of bad weather. Don’t be a drama queen.
Oh thanks Christian, BSc – I’ve never understood the difference before!
You haven’t watched any of the Crocodile Dundee films?
I’m sure all that sentiment will go down well with coastal electors.
Australia is looking weaker by the minute, with no preparation for the trouble right ahead.
Our industries/income are being ravaged by Green, Red and Black tape, while our enemies disregard such restriction and become ever more powerful and threatening.
Consequently, our Defense Services are run-down, our population is divided along gender, racial and political lines.
But at least we have loads of fine plans for a Utopian future and climate repair – but note – our adversaries do neither.
The reckoning is coming soon on all Democracies unless this fatal sickness is remediated urgently.
The Troika of evil dictatorships are almost ready, just waiting for us and US/Europeans to fall further apart internally.
So not long to wait… like the 20 years of decadent and well-meaning pacifist times between 1918 and 1939.
Gosh I’m glad the elderly will be dead soon so we can just get on with it. I bet the boomers are gearing up to buy the next truck load of cheap useless plastic shit destined for landfill over Xmas, have to put all that “revenue earned from coal and gas” somewhere *eyeroll*
Well, Ceecee,
Maybe Greg and Rob are actually spot on, perhaps we must spend this ill-gotten, short-sighted loot and pillage, as fast as possible because the damage caused in its theft and use will, of course, ensure our early death of the entire planet.
So, “Eat , Drink and be Merry”, for tomorrow we have chosen to die.
Cheers, G”)
Some of we boomers were fighting for climate action and reducing, reusing and recycling before you were even thought of and long before the Greens existed. Just address Grerrrrrrrrr’s pronouncements (it’s easy enough) without bring in his age, which you don’t even know.
I don’t know that the DIY research crew who embrace the job lot of conspiracies – vaccines are designed to kill us (or track us?), the referendum was about the UN seizing Australia, a rich omnipotent cabal is pulling all sorts of strings and plotting nefariously, climate change is a hoax etc – are predominantly boomers.
Bigotry doesn’t help any cause.
By the year 2000, snowfalls will be a thing of the past. The planet will be uninhabitable by 2030. There will be no more glaciers by 2020. But that’s ok, because we will hit peak oil by 2007 anyway.
You wouldn’t be 🍒 picking would you?
The moderator won’t even allow the short list. It’s not that many pages. Maybe if I break it up into 20 parts or something.
Yes, but what percentage does it represent of the total accumulation of climate data? And who made the predictions? How often to climate scientists make definitive statements with precise dates? Those are the considerations in determining cherry picking
I wonder where all those truckloads of plastic crap I saw strewn around for Halloween will end up? We baby boomers don’t believe in importing more excuses from the US culture to rot kids’ teeth and destroy the planet. And then we’re called old grouches!
Gen Xers aren’t big on America cultural imperialism either. It’s Zed not Zee.
These conspiratorialist climate deniers are no longer worth even arguing with, anthropogenic climate change has got to the point now that it can EASILY be seen with the naked eye, in fact a drovers dog could even see it’s effects, wake up to yourselves you clowns, your just peddling gross stupidity. The real problem is whether the World in general is going to do enough to counter its worst effects, really serious action is rather politically poisonous.
Drovers dogs do often lick cane toads. Have you been hitting the toad?
Their genitalia maybe – but cane toads not so much. And I’ve had several dogs of working breed heritage.