Patrick Gorman: Why we must end the climate wars

There is no hard border to protect Western Australia from the impacts of climate change.

Our State is one of the most trade-exposed economies anywhere on earth. We must make the outcomes of the Glasgow UN Climate Change Conference work for us.

Because, done properly, climate action is a huge boost for WA agriculture, new energy and mining industries.

It means jobs for our engineers, scientists, FIFO workers and farmers now and in the decades ahead.

The oscillation from the Prime Minister about his attendance at the Glasgow summit started weeks ago in his interview with The West Australian. This sent a message to global investment markets that Australia does not take our environment seriously.

Even the Queen weighed in last week, saying “I still don't know who’s coming”.

Now I support an Australian republic, but if the Queen invited me to dinner, I would RSVP promptly and in the affirmative.

This week, Australia is in an equally absurd position that the Prime Minister has booked his jet to Glasgow while he doesn’t even have a policy to put in his briefcase.

This is because the climate sausage is being made in Canberra this week as the National Party — which has no Federal MPs from WA — dictate climate policy.

The political transition of the Coalition is, as they say in Canberra, a bit like that movie “The Croods”. As the political landscape changes, the more prehistoric parts of the Coalition family have been forced to adapt.

Scott Morrison’s attempted shift on climate change isn’t an achievement for him. But it is proof to the grannies who have knitted scarves highlighting a century of temperature change and the students who have fiercely lobbied their politicians that democratic engagement makes a difference.

Like them, I find it hard as a West Australian to see our State’s economic opportunities held ransom to the demands of Barnaby Joyce and other east coast MPs who don’t understand WA.

A joint report by the Business Council of Australia, unions and environmental groups predicts $89 billion in new clean exports by 2040 and 395,000 jobs which will disproportionately land in WA.

As political leaders we need to act on policy and lead by example. At home Jess and I have gone solar, switched every light in our house to LED, I now drive an electric car and we are replanting our garden with bee-friendly, low-water natives. That’s because I believe taking action on climate change is patriotic. But personal climate action is not enough to protect the Australian way of life. Summer at the beach. Walks through Kings Park. Road trips to lush wineries down south. Protecting the WA lifestyle we love also prevents heartbreaking natural disasters that will otherwise become more frequent with more cyclones and more fire risk.

Even those who, like myself, will be disappointed in the eight-year-late National Party endorsed plan that Mr Morrison takes to Glasgow, need to maintain their enthusiasm.

Thankfully, West Australians are optimists. There are so many easy wins for Australia when it comes to climate change. One easy win is investing more in hydrogen-export technology, which will be a priority for Labor’s National Reconstruction Fund. This will leverage the skills of our resources sector to become the energy exporter of tomorrow.

Many of the other policy changes Australia needs to make are practical to the point of being somewhat boring.

Being serious about electric cars means just providing a small bit of assistance. John Howard did it with funding to help families put solar panels on their roof, Labor will do it by cutting inefficient taxes when families put electric cars in their garage.

Rebuilding our nation’s electricity networks sounds dull, but it means thousands of Australian steel, fabrication and construction jobs. It is also essential if we want to plug large-scale batteries and thousands more wind turbines into our grids. The solution is Labor’s $20 billion investment in rewiring our nation.

Community batteries are also coming to a park near you. Western Power is already trialling this technology in my electorate. Families love it. What’s not to love about lower power bills for you and everyone on your block? Labor wants to put another 400 of these across Australia.

Finally, the most important message Australia can send to the world is an unconditional and genuine commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050, and a strong roadmap to get there. That’s the stable policy that we have been missing for the last decade.

Neither myself nor Mr Morrison will still be in Parliament come 2050. He will be 82, I will be 65. While I am confident COVID-19 and hard borders will be ancient history by 2050, it is up to this decade’s political leaders as to if the climate wars are over, too.