Victorian Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson is concerned Labor’s renewable energy plan could push Australia into ruin.
Henderson raised concerns about the potential cost of the new emissions targets and rising power prices.
“We have seen in the last three years emissions have flatlined and yet power prices have gone through the roof.”
The Victorian senator claimed Labor was “embedding a number of secret carbon taxes into the economy.”
Explaining what she meant by these secret carbon taxes, she said, “Attacks on industry, attacks on electricity, attacks on farmers, and frankly it is as you say involving billions and billions of dollars.”
The Labor Party have not provided a total cost of reducing emissions by 62 to 70 percent, although they have allocated nearly $8.3 billion in new funding.
“It’s nonsensical that we could get to 43 percent by 2030. And it’s just la la land stuff that we could pretend to get to 62 to 70 percent,” Henderson said.
“The cost to our nation is far too high. This is an utter embarrassment, and that’s why we’ve got to turn our back on these ridiculous policies.”
The Senator said Labor’s climate targets would impose burdens on all Australians.
“Of course we want to see emissions come down, we want to encourage investment in clean energy technologies, but the cost of these targets is way too high, we must reject them, along of course with the rejection of net zero as a mandated target,” Henderson said.
She said Australia’s renewable targets and net zero plan was “not working” for the country, with particular sectors, such as farmers, manufacturers, and regional communities, feeling a greater impact.
“Sure, we all want to play our part, we want to give companies the opportunity to invest in clean energies if that’s there wish, but we are not going to send our country off an economic cliff,” she said.
Acting in National Interest: Labor
Albanese told reporters on Sept. 19 that Australians had been “very clear” they want action on climate change.“Yesterday, we accepted the Climate Change Authority’s advice to cut emissions by 62 to 70 percent by 2035. That was advice based upon the science, based upon the best technology. An ambitious target, but one that is achievable. And we accepted that advice,” he said.
Further, the report predicted a 444 percent increase in heat-related deaths in the city of Sydney if global temperatures increased by 3 degrees Celsius.
Albanese said setting a 2035 target was a compulsory part of Australia’s commitment to the Paris Agreement to stop temperatures from rising to “dangerous levels.”
Meanwhile, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen talked up the advantages of Australia’s resources for the economy.
“The Climate Change Authority puts it well in their advice to me. They say we have an abundance of solar and wind above the ground and a periodic table of critical minerals below the ground. And that is our key to economic prosperity,” he told reporters.
“We can use these advantages to power hundreds of thousands of jobs and new investment to set us up for a bright economic future, making the most of our strengths and building our decarbonisation journey here and helping the rest of the world.”
