Submission To The Senate Standing Committees On Environment And Communications Inquiry Into The Climate Change Bill 2022 And The Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022

LABOR NET ZERO BILL TO INVITE ENVRONMENTAL LAWFARE AND CRIPPLE REGIONAL AUSTRALIA

Dear Secretariat,

The Institute of Public Affairs appreciates the opportunity to make a submission to the Senate Standing Committees on Environment and Communications inquiry into the Climate Change (2022) Bill and Climate Change (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2022.

These Bills seek to legislate, among other matters, a reduction to emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, and for emissions to be reduced to net zero by the year 2050, which will risks imposing significant economic, social, and humanitarian costs on Australians.

Perhaps no other policy better underscores the detachment of the political class from the mainstream of society than that of the pursuit of net zero emissions by 2050. Mainstream Australians resoundingly rejected the policy of net zero emissions by 2050 at the 2019 election, known then as the ‘climate election’, just as six years earlier they resoundingly rejected the carbon tax.

However, at the recent federal election, they were only offered a choice over how the policy of net zero emissions, as the former Coalition Government reneged on its election commitment during its last term and both major political parties adopted net zero into their policy platforms.

Added to this has been almost unanimous support for net zero among many of Australia’s major institutions, academia, major businesses, and most sections of the media. As a result, the policy of net zero has received little scrutiny or debate, and there is a lack of transparency over its potential costs, and who in the community will incur those costs.