Labor takes power with help of Teals and Greens and climate push

The nine-year reign of the Coalition government has come to a crunching end, swept from power by a stunning and unprecedented surge in support for the strong climate push from Teals and Greens and a strong enough showing for Labor, particularly in the west.

Anthony Albanese will be Australia’s 31st prime minister, although late on Saturday night it was still not clear if he would lead a majority government, and may have to deal with a cross bench of up to 15. Many believe a minority position would be a good thing.

The election of Labor – and the surge in support for independents and the Greens pushing for strong action on climate and a rapid switch to renewables – promises to be a watershed moment for Australia’s green energy transition.

The climate issue barely rated a mention among the major parties, but Labor’s election – merely by the act of embracing new technologies and ceasing to be a bollard against sound policy – will likely trigger an avalanche of green energy investment.

Labor already assumes a rapid switch to clean technologies – 80 per cent renewables by 2030 and up to nine out of 10 new sales being electric – although its actual emissions reductions targets – a 43 per cent cut by 2030 – lag behind where the science dictates they should be.

Labor will be under pressure to increase its targets – having trimmed them after its failure in the last election – but that may not so be hard to do if it can unlock the flow of green capital, commit to its infrastructure projects, and give key regulators a kick up the rear.

The electorate’s frustration with the Coalition has been brilliantly marshalled by the likes of the Climate200 campaign led by Simon Holmes a Court, and a Greens Party that will have by far its biggest representation in both the lower and upper houses.

Inner city Liberals were eviscerated by the surge of the independents and the Greens, and even some high profile Labor MPs were swept away in Brisbane.

The Teals could number seven, with the return of Zali Steggall in Warringah paving the way for more strong, independent women MPs representing the seats of Kooyong, Goldstein, Wentworth, North Sydney, Mackellar, and Curtin – although not all these victories are locked in.

The Greens’ success was more surprising, although not to those closely connected to the campaign.

They could pick up another three seats in Brisbane, a region badly affected by floods, and possibly another in the NSW seat of Richmond (another flood ravaged region) and Macnamara in Victoria. (Only the surging vote of anti-vaxers in Richmond could save Labor against the strong Greens candidate in that seat).

They could also have a total of 12 Senators, and former Wallabies captain David Pocock, also running as a climate independent, made history by defeating right wing Liberal Zed Selzeja, and breaking the Liberal/Labor deadlock over the two ACT Senate seats.

Liberal party figures lamented the loss of key “moderates”, but the massive loss or support in what have traditionally been traditionally safe seats highlights the frustration of seeing these conservatives vote consistently with the Far Right.

In reality, the losing Liberals were either not moderate (Tim Wilson is the former policy chief for the Institute of Public Affairs that wrote the lengthy wish list that included killing off the ABC and all climate action), or spineless in the face of Murdoch media and the LNP (Josh Frydenberg had some idea of what a good policy might look like but was too scared to implement it, such as when he dumped his proposed vehicle emissions standard after it was dubbed the “carbon tax on wheels” by a Murdoch tabloid).

Scott Morrison wasn’t the least bit interested in climate change or energy, and his office and advisors was controlled by the former bosses of Australia’s most powerful fossil fuel lobby, the Minerals Council of Australia.

And the electorate remembers the mind-numbing stupidity of having Morrison mocking new technologies such as battery storage and electric vehicles, and an energy minister Angus Taylor, seemingly obsessed with nothing more than support fossil fuels and slowing down wind and solar.

See: Too much wind and solar? Or just too much Angus Taylor?

As NSW Liberal energy minister and treasurer Matt Kean noted: “There are definitely lessons to be learned, that when the Liberal party goes too far to the right, we lose in the centre.”

Albanese, in his acceptance speech late on Saturday night, hailed the prospect of Australia becoming a “renewables superpower”, although it’s not entirely clear that Albanese himself really gets the urgency and the opportunities of climate and energy.

But in Chris Bowen he has a capable energy and climate minister, who actually drives an EV, and there are plenty of others in Cabinet – and of course on the cross bench – who understand the importance and the opportunities and will be pushing for strong action that respects, rather than ignores, the science.

Hear: The Driven Podcast: Chris Bowen on his new Tesla and Labor’s EV policy

Ironically, it may be the likes of Kean – with his ambitious plans to transform the country’s biggest and most coal dependent grid to renewables in a decade – that could help a Labor government, supported by Greens and the Teals – deliver the sort of climate and energy policy the market has been calling for.

Indeed, it’s ironic and something for the Liberals to think about: Kean represents the only remaining Liberal government on the mainland, yet it is his policies that are arguably the most ambitious of any state or federal government.

It’s a complete and utter a repudiation of the conservative campaign against renewables and climate action orchestrated by the Murdoch media. Or, as Greenpeace noted, this is “the only time you’ll ever see us celebrating an extinction event”.