The Australian Greens have pledged to block federal approval of new coal and gas mines if the Albanese government is re-elected with a minority this weekend, by ensuring that the buck stops with the climate minister on decisions about “climate destroying” projects.
In a statement on Monday, the Greens say they will use the minor party’s bargaining power in the case of a hung parliament to demand that federal energy and climate minister Chris Bowen use existing powers under the federal Safeguard Mechanism to put a “hard cap” on pollution from new coal and gas mines.
The hard cap would set permissible pollution from new fossil fuel projects at zero and would not allow new coal and gas mines to buy offsets for any pollution above that level.
According to polls, a minority government or “hung” parliament remains a strong possible result of the 2025 federal election, which means a major party has to gain the support of enough cross-benchers – including independents, Greens and other minor parties – to form government.
This is a rarely a happy outcome for the major parties, but potentially a very good result for voters who, by their actions at the ballot box have sent a message that they are looking for more progressive and more broadly representative policies.
As The Guardian’s Lenore Taylor points out here, Australia’s last minority government, the Gillard government, managed to legislate a carbon price. That didn’t turn out so well in the end, but by 2022 the pendulum had swung back in favour of stronger political action on climate change and Labor won the vote (or the Coalition lost it).
The Albanese government has, on some measures – and certainly against the very low bar set by previous Coalition governments – delivered good progress on climate and long-term energy policies to support decarbonisation.
But according to Greens leader Adam Bandt, if the Liberal Party are “climate criminals,” then Labor are “climate charlatans.” Certainly, on phasing out fossil fuels Labor’s record is poor.
Data released last week showed that while overall emissions under the Safeguard Mechanism scheme decreased, around 70% of the coal and gas facilities covered by the mechanism reported an increase in emissions from the previous year.
Meanwhile, a total of 30 new coal and gas projects have been backed by the Labor government since it was returned to power in 2022, many of these projects approved by federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek, who is not required to factor climate impact into her decisions.
The Greens say that the coal mines, alone, approved by Plibersek will release 2.5 billion tonnes of climate pollution – over five times Australia’s annual emissions, and the equivalent of keeping an average Australian coal fired power station running for over 350 years.
To address this, the Greens has put stopping new coal and gas on a list of five priorities for minority government negotiations, and the party plans to achieve this particular goal by using latent powers already secured in negotiations over the Safeguard Mechanism.
Specifically, the Greens introduced a hard cap on the amount of climate pollution permitted under the scheme, and gave the federal climate minister – Bowen – wide-ranging powers over new coal and gas projects.
The Greens will seek these powers be exercised so that the permissible pollution from new mines is set at zero and the new mines are unable to purchase offsets for any pollution above that level.
The party says it is releasing Parliamentary Library advice showing that such powers are already available to the climate minister, and that some projects already have “zero baselines,” but with offsetting allowed.
This removes any need for new legislation to pass the Parliament, and also – the Greens say – deals with “any spurious objection … that climate-destroying projects like the North West Shelf gas project can still proceed if permitted under environment law.”
Essentially, it will mean that the buck stops with Bowen on whether or not heavily polluting new fossil fuel projects can go ahead.
“In the middle of a climate crisis, Tanya Plibersek has approved new coal mines that will release 2.5 billion tonnes of climate pollution. If the environment minister won’t act, the Greens will get the climate minister to do it,” Bandt said on Monday from Sydney – Plibersek’s federal electorate.
“Australia is being hit with fires and floods, but Labor has approved over 30 new coal and gas projects and Peter Dutton wants even more. They talk up renewables but open up coal and gas.
“If you’re worried about climate change, you can’t keep voting for the same two parties and expecting a different result.
“If you want climate action, you have to vote for it, because it’s clear Labor won’t act on climate unless pushed,” Bandt says.
“The Greens gave the climate minister the power to stop new coal and gas mines with the stroke of a pen, and with more Greens in minority Parliament we’ll get him to use it.”
The Australian Conservation Foundation said on Monday that the Safeguard Mechanism needs to be tightened to make it more effective, and should not allow coal and gas companies to “buy off” their climate responsibilities.
“The next parliament must champion a safe climate – starting with a determination to end the approval of new coal and gas projects,” said ACF CEO Kelly O’Shanassy.
“It was shocking to witness the offshore regulator’s approval last week of Santos’ Barossa gas project, which will spew out more than 270 million tonnes of climate pollution over its lifetime,” she said.
“When global scientists and the International Energy Agency have called for no new fossil fuel projects, it is grossly irresponsible to keep approving new coal and gas mines.”
