The Greens will introduce a bill into Federal Parliament aimed at making fossil fuel companies pay for damage that they have inflicted on the environment as climate change is once again consuming debate in Canberra.
Greens Leader Adam Bandt said damage payments would go to survivors of the recent bushfires under their proposal.
“The big coal, oil and gas companies should bear some of the cost for all those homes and businesses that have been destroyed in the recent climate fuelled bushfires," he told reporters on Monday.
The Greens proposal comes as the major political parties traded blows over carbon emissions with Nationals backbencher Barnaby Joyce and Labor's Joel Fitzgibbon getting into a fiery debate in the corridors of Parliament.
Greens leader Adam Bandt. Source: AAP
Mr Fitzgibbon interrupted Mr Joyce as he rubbished Labor's commitment to net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 in front of reporters.
Australian business and industry groups, along with all the states and territories and more than 70 other countries, support such a target.
But the Coalition has rejected the policy arguing Labor has failed to detail the cost of the transition.
Mr Joyce warned jobs would be threatened in agriculture and mining, including in Mr Fitzgibbon’s own electorate which covers the Hunter Valley.
“He's taking your job - it’s going – bye bye to your job,” Mr Joyce said.
Mr Fitzgibbon denied any coal miners would lose their job, suggesting Mr Joyce was being politically opportunistic.
“You just want to keep the climate wars going because you see political opportunity in it," he said.
Earlier, Energy Minister Angus Taylor accused Labor's net-zero emissions target of being “silly” without having a plan behind it to support the transition.
“The way to deal with this issue is coordinated global action. Australia's unilateral action is not going to solve the problem,” he said.
“They need to explain what this means for farmers, for miners, for truckies, for people right throughout regional Australia.”
The Federal Government has said it will settle on its 2050 strategy before this year's Glasgow summit.
Energy Minister Angus Taylor. Source: Reuters
Some moderate Liberals including North Sydney MP Trent Zimmerman and Mackellar MP Jason Falinski have expressed support for a transition towards net-zero emissions.
Liberal MP Dave Sharma said he wanted to see the world get to "net-zero" in the second half of the century.
'Coal is still king'
But some in the Nationals and Liberal Party remain staunchly opposed to the long-term target.
Nationals MP Craig Kelly said comparing Australia to the United Kingdom, which has committed to net-zero emissions by 2050, was unfounded due to “stark” differences between the countries.
“This is an economic suicide note for the nation,” he told reporters on Sunday.
“It is a completely different kettle of fish between Australia and the UK.”
Nationals MP Ken O’Dowd also dismissed the net-zero emissions target saying he didn’t believe Labor leader Anthony Albanese's promise that coal could exist alongside the aspiration.
“I’ve never heard of so much bullshit in my life,” he told reporters.
“Coal is still king in my part of the country and it is still king in other parts of the world.”
But Labor deputy leader Richard Marles countered such arguments by questioning the cost of inaction on climate change.
"If you want to see the cost of not acting you only need to look at the drought that's been endured by this country over the last few years and of course the terrible summer that we have just experienced," he said.
Additional reporting by AAP
