Labor and the Greens vote down practical climate change action

Labor and the Greens have joined forces in South Australian Parliament yesterday evening to vote down practical climate change action.

The Malinauskas Labor Government put forward a motion to declare a climate emergency in South Australia which the Opposition tried to amend to include practical action such as:

1. (i) transforming the South Australian economy to zero net emissions by 2050, and to 50 per cent by 2030; and
2. (ii) quarantining the Department for Environment and Water from budget cuts.

Opposition Leader David Speirs said Labor and the Greens inexplicably did not support the amendments.

“This just shows Peter Malinauskas and Susan Close are more interested in chasing headlines than delivering real outcomes,” Mr Speirs said.

“Declaring a climate emergency without including any practical action is the very definition of virtue signalling and gesture politics.

“Our amendments were sensible and achievable but staggeringly Labor and the Greens joined forces to vote them down.

“South Australia has been a world leader when it comes to climate change action through a bi-partisan approach over decades.

“This should be celebrated as we have shown our work across parliaments, across governments and across political parties of both persuasions is that you can grab hold of the economic opportunity, create those green industries and transition your economy to a decarbonised economy, creating lots of jobs, creating intellectual property, creating solutions, both in emissions mitigation and in adapting our society, because inevitably the climate is changing.

“The hypocrisy here is that while yesterday Labor were declaring a climate emergency, tomorrow they will deliver a budget which will slash expenditure for the Department of Environment and Water.”