Opposition Leader Peter Dutton's budget reply details the Liberal-National Party's polluting policies on energy and climate change:
- $0 for nuclear begs the question: is the party now walking away from their highly controversial energy scheme?
- A whopping $1.3 billion in handouts for multinational gas corporations during a cost-of-living crisis
- Zero mention of climate change, net zero or escalating costs of disasters is a head-in-the-sand approach to Australians suffering from worsening climate disasters
The Federal Opposition's policies put more Australians in the crosshairs of escalating climate-fuelled disasters, the Climate Council summed up in response to tonight's budget reply.
Their policies help the polluting gas industry with handouts and promises to wave through more projects. It continues their poor track record on climate change with more of the same: more excuses, more delays, and more harmful climate pollution from coal and gas. The Coalition still has no credible plan to deal with climate change, or replace our ageing coal generators.
Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said "While Australians are struggling in a cost-of-living crisis, the Liberal-National Coalition is focused on handing out $1.3 billion to the gas industry, and waving through their polluting projects. This tramples all over the progress we're making to cut climate pollution and protect our environment. It's reckless and destructive.
"While there's plenty of cash being splashed on gas, no dollars are set aside for nuclear. Is this a genuine policy, or was it always just a ploy for more coal and gas?
"Combine their expensive nuclear scheme with bucketloads of gas, and you have a climate disaster that locks in at least two billion more tonnes of climate pollution from coal and gas.
"They still have no plan to cut climate pollution. They're wilfully risking our kids' future by kicking the climate can decades down the road. With coal-fired power stations on the way out, and the climate crisis accelerating, we need energy solutions for today. More renewable energy and storage is the fastest way to get power bills under control, the quickest way to replace coal as it retires, and the only way to secure a safer future for our kids and our communities."
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