In this article, Cian Hussey contextualises and disseminates the IPA’s research on Net Zero.
Chris Bowen’s all-out sales pitch for net zero by 2050 has reached a new crescendo. The National Climate Risk Assessment paints a bleak picture; more heat deaths, more communicable diseases, more floods, even worse productivity than Labor has already delivered, and $500 billion of property value losses by 2050. This last one is no doubt horrifying for many members of the parliamentary Labor Party.
“Your property values are going to be smashed if we don’t do net zero!” is quite an effective message to Australians. As a country, a great deal of economic, social, and cultural wealth is tied to homeownership. But if climate change was really going to devastate the property market, why are the banks still writing mortgages for houses in Australia? And why would the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spend $4.3 million on a Central Coast retirement pad?
It is hard to think of a specific class of people where property ownership is higher or more concentrated than among Australian politicians. The Labor Party itself has emerged as a party of wealthy landlords. Senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah must be very worried about her seven properties. Minister Tony Burke owns six. Andrew Charlton, the Labor member for Parramatta, reportedly has five “residential investment” properties, one of which he purchased for $16.1 million in 2020.
A cynic might wonder, if the Labor Party is so convinced that climate change will devastate the Australian property market over the next two and a half decades, then why are they so heavily invested in it? Or is it that they are so confident that they can beat Australia’s emissions down so far that they can get the world to net zero and avoid catastrophe all on their own?
The second is unlikely, given that Australia contributes around one per cent of global emissions. Australia’s emissions could go up, down, or sideways – we could double our emissions overnight and it would have no impact on the world’s climate.
The first explanation appears more appropriate. “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.”
