MEDIA RELEASE
PETER DUTTON’S COALITION ABANDONS CLIMATE ACTION
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Peter Dutton will abandon action on climate change, take a sledgehammer to Australia’s climate progress and walk away from setting pollution-reducing targets.
Last night Liberal Candidate for Gilmore, Andrew Constance revealed the plan, saying:
“2035 Paris Agreement target, off the table by the Liberal Party.”
[SKY NEWS, 24 FEBRUARY 2025]
This confirmation comes on the back of Shadow Minister for Energy, Ted O’Brien failing to confirm the Opposition would commit to a climate target in time for the next COP meeting.
This is more proof that the Peter Dutton’s only climate plan is to take any action off the table and give a green light to big polluters.
This is an embarrassing backflip from Mr Constance, who in 2020 said, after the devastation of the Black Summer Bushfires:
“Certainly it was my first experience of a global event that had a raft of causes but the predominant one was climate change" and swore he was “going to dedicate the rest of my life to making sure this doesn’t happen again”.
[SMH, 12 OCTOBER 2020]
Either Peter Dutton agrees with Mr Constance’s comments from last night, and is upfront with Australians about why he’s ruling out serious climate change action, or he agrees with the Mr Constance from 2020 – who, like the vast majority of Australians, wants sensible action on climate change that is in our national economic and environmental interest.
Australians sent a clear message at the last election – they want credible and serious action on climate change.
The Opposition will cut $600 billion from critical services to pay for their nuclear scheme which is just a cover for extending fossil fuels and avoiding action on climate change.
Only yesterday, new Climate Change Authority analysis revealed the nuclear plan would be an “emissions bomb”, pushing out two billion tonnes more emissions by 2050 at a trajectory which “scientists, economists and governments anticipate major social, economic and environmental harm”.
Australians don’t want to see more tired, frustrating climate wars, that only see us miss the economic opportunities of the global push towards Net Zero.
Because the Australian public are smart enough to know that without a plan or a direction of travel that is informed by targets then Peter Dutton’s “commitment to Net Zero” is nothing but lip service – and his real plan is climate inaction.
END
Media contact: Minister Bowen’s office – [email protected]
