Labour’s climate bill has passed the lower house by 89 votes to 55, enshrining into law the government’s commitment to reduce Australia’s emissions by 43% by 2030.
“This is a good day for our country,” Climate Minister Chris Bowen told Parliament.
Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen has said the bill’s success in the lower house is a great day for Australia. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
The landmark vote came after the government backed a series of amendments tabled by the crossbench.
These were changes by Curtin MP Kate Chaney to make clear the legislation was aimed at urgent action on climate change; Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel’s requirement that the target be a floor rather than a ceiling; Indian MP Helen Haines’ requirement that benefits to regional communities be taken into account when assessing the effectiveness of legislation; and Member for Warringah Zali Steggall’s decision that future updates to Paris Agreement targets must be based on expert advice from the Climate Change Authority.
Separate bids by the Greens and Andrew Wilkie to raise emissions cuts to 75% were defeated.
Greens leader Adam Bandt urged the government to “move faster to fix this” after the Coalition’s inaction.
“We’re doing this to stop going over a cliff,” he said. “If we get to 2 degrees, we say goodbye to the Great Barrier Reef, and parts of Australia may become habitable if we go further.”
loading
The process of voting on the amendments took more than three hours.
In the final vote, overwhelming support for the bill came from Labour, the four Green MPs and cross MPs Zoe Daniel, Monique Ryan, Sophie Scamps, Rebekha Sharkie, Allegra Spender, Zali Steggall, Kylea Tink and Andrew Wilkie.
Kate Chaney and Helen Haines were absent because they contracted COVID-19 earlier in the week and are self-isolating.
Liberal MP Bridget Archer spoke to support the legislation.
The rest of the coalition voted against it. Cruisers Bob Katter and Dai Le abstained.
Bowen thanked members across parliament for working constructively with the government on changes to the legislation.