Adam Bandt pushes for amendments to climate change legislation and rubbishes government’s ‘take it or leave it’ approach

Greens leader Adam Bandt hopes he can sit down with the government to improve the wording on the climate legislation – but only once Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dropped the “take it or leave it” approach.

The Greens insisted it is too early to determine if they would support the government’s climate change legislation and will push for amendments to the bill.

Labor will introduce legislation when parliament resumes this month to lock in the emissions reduction target of 43 per cent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen met with independents and representatives from the Greens on Thursday to share Labor’s draft of the bill.

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But Greens leader Adam Bandt warned on Sunday the government needs to drop the “take it or leave it approach” on the bill or face revolt from his party.

“Our strongly preferred approach is to improve and pass but if the government says it’s our way or the highway, then we’re going to have to respond to that,” he told Insiders.

“Otherwise it’s going to be a very long three years. It’s going to be a very long three years if no one is willing to shift.”

He detailed there are a “number of problems” with the legislation put forward and issued four changes he wanted to see in the bill before he would back it.

“It potentially puts a ceiling on the ambition so it means potentially if a future government wanted to lift the 43% target they might have to come back to parliament,” Mr Bandt said.

“It doesn’t contain any provisions that will stop coal and gas and also it’s in many respects … it doesn’t actually compel the government to do anything.”

Mr Bandt feared the 43 per cent would be locked in under the bill and not be updated if the government or his party successfully push for a higher target.

He believes the issue was a “fixable problem” and was willing to sit down with the government to have discussions “without preconditions”.

The Greens leader was posed whether he was willing to deal with the concerns of coal and gas projects separately to the emissions target but he argued “they’re obviously linked” and referenced the gas projects in Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin.

“Well, they’re obviously linked, right? What are we talking about? We’re talking about reducing pollution. Coal and gas are our biggest sources of pollution” he responded.

“And we can have a discussion potentially now, potentially over the next three years but how quickly we get out of coal and gas.”

Labor have the numbers to pass the legislation in the House of Representatives but it will need to work with the Greens and ACT Senator David Pocock to pass the legislation.

The newly-elected Independent Senator indicated he will support the legislation.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared this week it was “time to end the climate wars” and fired a warning shot to the Greens who are pushing for a higher target.

“If the Greens Party haven’t learned from what they did in 2009 – that was something that led to a decade of inaction and delay and denial – then that will be a matter for them,” he said on Tuesday.

“It’s time to end the climate wars. What that represents is something that would have been seen as being impossible a couple of years ago.

“I don’t know what it takes to wake up people, whatever their side of the political spectrum, to the fact that we need to work together and stop the conflict and work in a way that delivers outcomes.

“We’ll put forward the legislation before the Parliament; every member of the house and every member of the Senate should vote for it.

“If they don’t, they’ll be held accountable for it.”

Mr Albanese stressed he was willing to work with the Green on “sensible amendments” put forward but would not be “game-playing” about “figures plucked from the air”.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers echoed the sentiments during an interview with Sky News Australia’s Kieran Gilbert on Sunday.

“The difficulties in our energy markets make it more urgent that we get cleaner and cheaper and more reliable energy in, not less urgent,” he said.

“… A meaningful responsible action on climate change, which is designed to get our energy prices down and make our energy sources much more reliable in the context of extreme energy market volatility.”

He suggested the Coalition was “always looking for an excuse to do nothing” when it came to climate change.

“Legislating the target is international best practice, it’s the best way to give our businesses and investors and broader community certainty over that target, so that’s our intention to legislate it,” Mr Chalmers added.

“If they think that we should be doing something about climate change in a responsible way then all parties in the parliament should vote for it.”