The Greens have warned Labor it will face a “brutal” campaign in key inner-city seats if it shifts to the Right on climate change and the Adani mine under a new leader in an effort to reconnect with blue-collar workers.
As Labor contemplates a return to the political centre and a more pro-jobs stance on coalmining after its electoral drubbing in Queensland, Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt flagged a fresh attack on the ALP’s Left flank, including Anthony Albanese’s seat of Grayndler.
“If Labor lurches to the Right under new leadership and back-pedals on climate and Adani, the Greens will mount a fierce inner-city push to represent voters abandoned on the Left,” Mr Bandt said.
Read Next
Mr Albanese, Labor’s likely next leader, has flagged a push to reconnect with voters in regional Australia, earning the endorsement of senior NSW Right MP Joel Fitzgibbon, who said the party was punished for “fence-sitting” on issues like the Adani coalmine.
Mr Bandt, who received a nearly 6 per cent swing towards him on Saturday in his seat of Melbourne, said inner-city voters would punish Labor if it endorsed the Adani mine and backed away from its environmental pledges, including its vow to slash carbon emissions by 50 per cent.
“In seats like Griffith (Queensland), Wills (Victoria) and Grayndler (NSW), any lurch to the Right will alienate people who want strong action on climate and inequality,” he said.
“Labor muddled through this election trying to walk both sides of the climate fence, but if Labor now comes down on the side of coal, the inner-city response will be brutal.”
The Greens vote remained relatively stable at 9.98 per cent nationally, and the party won big swings in some seats including Labor-held Griffith, in Brisbane’s inner south.
It failed to win target seats including Higgins and Kooyong.
Labor suffered a 3.76 per cent swing against it in Queensland as it sent mixed messages on the future of Adani under a Shorten government, with LNP MPs Michelle Landry, George Christensen and Ken O’Dowd returned in their mining seats with big swings to them on preferences.
Mr Bandt said Labor would be wrong to see the results in Queensland as an emphatic endorsement of Adani: “Even though the LNP vote hardly went up at all in key Queensland mining seats, with disaffected voters flocking to Pauline Hanson and Clive Palmer instead, Labor is swallowing the LNP lie there is some mythical pro-Adani constituency they need to reconnect with.”
Mr Albanese said this week Labor would “listen to the science” in relation to coalmining approvals, but also threw his support behind the coal industry as a major employer in regional Australia.
“The fact is the coal industry is an important employer in places like the Hunter Valley. That's a fact. The fact is also, when you look at the Queensland industry, the coal industry is largely coking coal, which is used for steel and that’s an important product as well.”
Mr Fitzgibbon, who had an almost 14 per cent swing against him in his NSW coalmining seat of Hunter, said he was satisfied Mr Albanese would have a strong focus “on the issues which matter most to working people living in our great regions”.
Political Reporter
Canberra
More stories on this topic
Topics
Read Next
Comments
Reader comments on this site are moderated before publication to promote lively, but civil and respectful debate. We encourage your comments but submitting one does not guarantee publication. You can read our comment guidelines here. If you believe a comment has been rejected in error, email comments@theaustralian.com.au and we'll investigate.
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Greens in warning to Labor on climate, Adani - The Australian"
Post a Comment