Greens need to stop and think before they throw a spanner in the works

The most arresting change in national politics since the installation of the new government hasn’t necessarily been getting used to the combination of the words “Prime Minister” and “Albanese”.

And it’s not the absence of the obsession with empty announcements that characterised Scott Morrison’s prime ministership. It’s the way the PM and his ministers approach climate change. The Coalition’s passive-aggressive “denialism in the guise of action” shtick is no more.

New approach on climate: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.Credit:Louie Douvis

Instead, the Albanese government is out and proud on the issue. No more finessing on the reality of climate change or the need to move to clean energy; the government wants Australia to be a renewables superpower.

The Europeans and the Americans and most of the Pacific islands have welcomed us back into the tent. All Australians who want us to do our bit once again should be pleased. But are they?

Not the Greens. The day after the election, their leader Adam Bandt sought policy deals with Anthony Albanese in return for guaranteeing confidence and supply. No other crossbenchers wanted to do that. Albanese, mindful of his painful experience in office in the Rudd-Gillard years, told Bandt to go jump.

On decarbonisation, the Greens and Labor are miles apart. Labor was elected on a promise of a 43 per cent reduction of emissions on 2005 levels by 2030. The Greens target is 75 per cent. On this, they’re backed by the Climate Council. Key industry groups also favour higher targets. The Business Council wants 46-50 per cent. The Australian Industry Group wants 50 per cent.

But of the aforementioned, only the ALP was running at the election with a view to heading up a government. Therein lies one big inconvenient truth. We have a majority Labor government – but only just. It’s surely operating under a probationary licence given that it won just over 50 per cent of the seats with fewer than a third of voters putting a “1” in the Labor box. It can’t afford to get too far ahead of public opinion, and it definitely can’t start ripping up its pre-election promises.

If it does, it’s likely to meet the same fate as the Gillard government, which screwed up its mandate soon after the 2010 election when it cheerfully, and cluelessly, negotiated with the Greens and some independents to introduce what came to be known as a carbon tax. Gillard had famously promised just before the election that there would be no carbon tax. It was a clear breach of faith with the public. Once that deal was done, she and the minority government she led were cooked.