Labor gets to work restoring credibility of Climate Change Authority, but concerns remain

Just days after ushering its Climate Bill safely through the federal parliament and into law, the Albanese government has made good on a promise to bolster the ranks of the Climate Change Authority, adding three new “well credentialed” members to the key advisory body.

The new appointments – Dr Virginia Marshall, Professor Lesley Hughes, and Sam Mostyn AO – mark the start of a a much-needed resurrection of the CCA, after it was stripped of funding and authority under the previous Coalition governments, and stacked with veterans of the fossil fuel industry.

The Coalition’s efforts meant that, at the change of federal government in May, Labor inherited a version of the Authority barely recognisable from the organisation established in 2012, under the Gillard government, to serve as a beacon of sound climate policy guidance.

Under the Coalition, its staff was whittled down to 10 per cent of its former numbers, forcing the CCA to outsource reports on key topics like carbon farming and greenhouse gas reporting to the consultants like EY and legal firm G&T.

The CCA reboot is particularly important given federal Labor’s plan to task the independent Authority with providing advice on Australia’s progress against its newly boosted climate targets, and on new targets under the Paris Agreement  – including a 2035 target.

Dr Virginia Marshall – a lawyer and legal academic – is a Wiradjiri Nyemba woman, and the Inaugural Indigenous Postdoctoral Fellow at the Australian National University, with the schools of Regulation and Global Governance and Fenner Environment and Science.

Lesley Hughes is a Distinguished Professor of Biology and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Integrity & Development) at Macquarie University, whose research has focused on the impacts of climate change on species and ecosystems.

She is also a former federal Climate Commissioner, former lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th and 5th Assessment Report, and a founding Councillor with the Climate Council of Australia.

Sam Mostyn, who is also chair of the government’s Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce, is a businesswoman and sustainability adviser, with a history of executive and governance roles across business, climate change, policy and not for profit sectors.

“The Climate Change Authority has a crucial role to play and these three additional members will bring vital skills and experience,” federal energy and climate minister Chris Bowen said in a statement on Wednesday.

“With this expanded membership, the Authority is better placed to oversee emissions reduction efforts and provide government with expert advice.”

But even with this progress, questions remain around the suitability of some the Authority’s existing members, particularly at the top of the organisation’s ranks.

As RenewEconomy has reported, former federal energy minister Angus Taylor last year appointed gas industry executives Grant King and Susie Smith to key roles in the CCA.

King is the former CEO of Origin Energy, and former chair of the Business Council of Australia, and a long time advocate for Australia’s gas industry, and the man who said Labor’s 45 per cent emissions reduction target and 50 per cent renewables targets it took to the 2019 election would be economy wrecking.

Smith was a long time executive at gas company Santos and was also head of the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network, a body heavily aligned with the fossil fuel industry and described by some critics as a key part of the “greenhouse mafia” that stifled climate policy in Australia for so long.

“The CCA has been depleted and is currently chaired by someone who in his capacity as BCA chair called Labor’s target economy wrecking,” said The Australia Institute’s climate policy analyst Richie Merzian in July.

“How can we have confidence that CCA can fulfil expanding responsibility without any changes to how it currently staffed and operated.”

Climate Council chief Amanda McKenzie said on Wednesday that it was crucial to rebuild the Authority’s credibility at such a “momentous” time in Australia’s climate policy history.

“This is precisely what is needed right now. We have to stay focussed on the urgent need for deeper emissions cuts this decade in line with the science and our international responsibilities.

“Sam Mostyn and Professor Lesley Hughes will provide the courageous, honest, independent, science-backed advice the federal government needs to drive real action on the climate crisis,” McKenzie said.

But she added that “to ensure the CCA is fully equipped for this task, the existing membership of the Board should also be reviewed.”