Jacqueline Maley’s assertion (“Killed by the pandemic: united Australia gone for all-time”, January 31) that the last federal Labor government delivered nothing real on climate change action is patently false.
In the face of Liberal Party opposition, our government introduced a suite of climate change policies including a carbon price, which abated up to 17 million tonnes of CO2 over two years; the insulation of 1.2 million homes; and 73,000 rebates for solar home hot water systems. Our most enduring achievement, however, was the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target, which legislated a five-fold increase in the share of renewable generation to 20 per cent by 2020 – a target that was met and exceeded. Through policy and legislation, we created a renewable energy industry with enough critical mass to keep pushing forward with the clean energy transition.
These policies were all bitterly opposed by the Liberal Party, first in opposition and subsequently in government. But, taken together, they resulted in a drop of Australia’s emissions by about 10 per cent in real terms. Commentators who lament Australia’s weak climate policies should look to those responsible – the Coalition, the fossil fuel industry and the Murdoch media – not the Labor Party, which has remained committed to climate action throughout.
Kevin Rudd, Brisbane
Expanding on Jacqueline Maley’s excellent article – albeit it shows a rather depressing expose of our state’s political meanderings – we could make some light for the end of the tunnel. It would be fair to say that the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, our head of state, will come to an end in the not too distant future. When that time comes it could be made a catalyst for us to become a republic and change our constitution to give our Indigenous people and their culture the meaningful recognition they deserve and a great opportunity to abolish the states and territories altogether. Then we could truly say that “we are all in this together”.
