“Silence not an option:” Teals push major parties to come clean on 2035 climate targets

The major parties must come clean on a 2035 climate target and how they’re going to get Australia there, a united front of independent MPs says.

Leading the charge in Canberra on Tuesday, independent MP for North Sydney Kylea Tink said it was “beyond ridiculous” that neither Labor nor the coalition wanted to talk about 2035 targets, saying it would be a key trigger in how people choose to vote in 2025.

“Silence should not be an option … they need to come clean, release their 2035 targets, say how they’re going to get us there and whether they will follow the science on how to get there,” she told AAP.

She said the Albanese government seemed to have moved to a position where they did not want to make a decision because they were waiting to see the result of the US election and its impact on decarbonisation.

“To me that’s an inappropriate deferral of the opportunities for our country and the responsibility of our government,” she said.

Teal MPs want clarity on how the government plans for Australia to meet its 2035 emissions target. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)

Teal independents were voted into parliament in 2022 on a platform for climate action. That was swiftly followed by Labor’s legislated emissions reduction target of 43 per cent for 2030 and net zero by 2050.

“While people are now talking about cost of living being the No.1 issue going into 2025, the truth is many of the cost of living issues we’re talking about are being impact by climate change,” she said.

“Whether it’s the cost of insurance, the cost of electricity, the cost of our groceries – climate change is playing into all of that.”

Still mulling her own future after her electorate was scrapped under new electoral boundaries, Ms Tink said the next six months would see her pushing both sides of politics on climate action as “one of the most pressing issues for the nation”.

Zali Steggall, MP for Warringah in Sydney – formerly the stronghold of Tony Abbott who said the “climate change cult” would be discredited – said climate risks were rising and costing Australians more each year.

Zoe Daniel, MP for Goldstein, repeated her call for a climate target of at least 75 per cent emissions reduction by 2035, while acknowledging that would be “close to the minimum required” for Australia to meet its international commitments.

The Climate Change Authority says it is developing advice for 2035 emissions reduction targets, which will determine the so-called nationally determined contribution that the federal government must pledge to the United Nations in 2025.

Dr Monique Ryan, representing Kooyong in Melbourne, said voters deserved to know exactly where the parties stand, before the next federal election.

Source: AAP