Neither glib lines nor warm thoughts can hide the cynicism of Labor's North West Shelf decision

The Guardian

17 hours ago

Fans of naked political cynicism have had plenty to cheer of late. Those hoping for something more from their elected leaders – a bit of principle and coherency, say – have had no shortage of reasons to lament what Michael Stipe once called the downhill slide into abysmal.
In Australia, there is cynicism right through the Albanese government's proposed approval of a 45-year life extension for one of the world's biggest gas developments.
The 28 May announcement that Labor planned to greenlight the North West Shelf liquified natural gas (LNG) project, on the Burrup Hub in northern Western Australia, to run until 2070 came just 15 days after Murray Watt was sworn in as environment minister.
The rapid turnaround suggests either departmental advice backing the decision was waiting for him when he arrived, or he digested it particularly quickly. The advice hadn't been available a few weeks earlier, when Watt's predecessor, Tanya Plibersek, delayed the decision until just beyond the election, saying officials needed more time.
It is tempting to speculate what might have happened had the extension been announced prior to 3 May. Given the scale of Labor's victory, the impact may have been around the margins. It might have made things even tighter in Fremantle, where a community independent who ran hard against the extension, Kate Hulett, gave Labor's Josh Wilson a scare. It may have helped the Greens hang on in Melbourne and Brisbane, and added fuel to other climate-focused independent campaigns. We'll never know.
What we do know is the North West Shelf extension is backed not just by the minister, but the prime minister and cabinet – and there was nothing particularly surprising about where they landed. It was only a year ago that the resources minister, Madeleine King, released a 'future gas strategy' that – for reasons not fully explained – assumed greater ongoing demand for the fossil fuel than any scenario proposed by the International Energy Agency, and declared new sources of the fossil fuel would be needed 'to 2050 and beyond'.
Even with this factored in, the language Anthony Albanese used when asked about the decision was striking in its dismissiveness. His line varied a little depending on when you caught him, but included gas being needed for the Tomago aluminium smelter in New South Wales and to 'firm up' renewable energy in electricity grids on the east and west coasts.
This was mostly dissembling, and nonsense. For now, at least, no fuel from the North West Shelf is used in the east. Only a fraction is directed to power plants in Perth's electricity grid, which requires relatively little gas and has other sources to draw from. Nearly all the gas from the Burrup Hub is shipped overseas or used on site during production.
Albanese also justified decades-long gas expansion by saying Australia's 2050 target set was 'net zero, not zero' and 'you don't change a transition through warm thoughts, you do it through a concrete proposal'.
True enough, if your goal is just to get through a press conference unscathed. But the former is a line most usually rolled out by people arguing against the need to act rapidly on climate – not a club Albanese would usually want to align himself with.
The latter might be better saved for when you actually have a plan to reach net zero emissions across the economy. His government hasn't released one yet.
It reinforces a perception that the prime minister's commitment to the climate crisis is too often built on the idea that being better than the Coalition – which went to the election promising nothing to address the climate crisis for at least the next decade and a long-term nuclear pledge that didn't add up – is enough. But that's not how it works.
Labor did take strides on climate in the last term. Chris Bowen's renewable energy underwriting program – the capacity investment scheme – will help drive the construction of large-scale solar, wind and batteries needed to help replace creaky old coal plants.
The parliament passed a long-promised vehicle efficiency standard to help clean up emissions from most new cars. A Future Made in Australia bill introduced by the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, offers billions in tax credits for green industries. A subsidy for household batteries is on the way.
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But national greenhouse gas emissions are not coming down at anything like the pace required. Last year they didn't come down at all. And there is an equally compelling list of policy areas that have not been addressed.
Two stand out. The first is the reliance on often questionable carbon offsets that the owners of major industrial facilities can buy in lieu of making direct emissions cuts. Experts advise offsets cannot be used to justify expanding fossil fuel use if the world is going to limit climate breakdown. Instead, nature and other projects that draw down CO2 from the atmosphere will need to complement deep on-site cuts in fossil pollution. That isn't happening yet.
The second is the unwillingness to come to grips with the impact of Australia's near world-leading fossil fuel exports. On this, the country needs more than simple lines. It's true that it can't fix the problem alone, and the answer is not as simple as turning off the fossil fuel tap. It's equally true that if the world is going to come to grips with the crisis, exporters and importers have to work together as rapidly as possible to find new solutions.
Would anyone suggest Australia is taking this responsibility as seriously as it could? Labor has approved about 30 fossil fuel developments and expansions since it was elected in 2022.
Choosing another path would need a whole-of-government response that prioritises the climate crisis in decision-making. It means leadership from the top in tackling what getting to net zero actually means. Albanese's public comments since the election have been running in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile, Australia has been hit by simultaneous devastating drought and floods in neighbouring states. An unprecedented marine heatwave around the country has engulfed an area five times the size of the continent. It has contributed to havoc across the region, including a massive toxic algal bloom in South Australia and unprecedented damage to WA coral reef ecosystems that scientists have described as astounding and heart-breaking.
Researchers say the 'sleeping giant' of Antarctica has awoken and is showing signs of abrupt changes that could affect us all. The World Meteorological Organization says the world is racing towards breaking temperature goals set out in the 2015 Paris climate agreement much faster than expected.
Neither glib lines nor warm thoughts will help much in responding to these. Serious concrete proposals – both on across-the-board emissions cuts and adapting to what we're living through – are what's needed.