By Aaron Miller-
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has backtracked on plans for emission targets in the face of internal pressure in his party.
On Monday, Turnbull succumbed to pressure from fellow Conservatives who were mounting a take over of Mr. Turnbull’s government over an energy policy that aimed to reduce prices and bring the country into line with international climate change commitments.
Mr Turnbull called an emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday amid reports some conservative backbenchers were urging Peter Dutton to challenge for the leadership.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott and other conservative MPs have been vocal in their criticism of the NEG, prompting the last-minute changes. The prime minister said he was still committed to the Paris targets but implicitly conceded that his slim one-seat majority in the House of Representatives has strangled his ability impose a formal target on the energy sector until conservative critics in his own party room changed their position.
“The outstanding reservations of a number of our colleagues, combined with the absence of bipartisan support, mean that as long as that remains the case, we won’t be in a position to take that legislation forward,” Mr Turnbull told reporters at Parliament House.
Mr Turnbull said he had seen Mr Dutton at a meeting earlier on Monday morning. “He is a member of our team, he has given me his absolute support,” the prime minister said. The Aussie prime minister also confirmed that the debate about whether to put the emissions target in law or in a more flexible regulation was now “moot”, as he confirmed the government’s sharp halt of either position for now.
Mr. Turbull however kept a resumption of those targets flexible for when the numbers in the House were more secure. The sudden U turn comes in the wake of a potential leadership challenge from Home Affairs Minister, Peter Dutton. The Australian Labor party condemned the backflip was a “white flag” surrender to the right-wing of the party.
“Mr Turnbull has demonstrated that he is not the leader this nation needs. Real leadership is about fighting for the principles you believe in,” opposition leader Bill Shorten said, clearly disappointed at the U turn.
Mr. Turnbull told reporters on Monday morning that the energy policy bill, known as the National Energy Guarantee, would not be introduced in the House of Representatives because of inadequate support. Australian parliamentary supporters have been stacking up the pressure against him, forcing the man with the top Auzzie job to dump all previous goals linked with climate change.
“We are not going to propose legislation purely for the purpose of it being defeated,” he said. However, the proposal had support from other parties in the Australian parliament . Mr. Turnbull’s political survival is obviously more important to him, and being accorded more importance than those concerned about Australia’s vulnerability to climate change and its many worrying effects.
“All it does is reconfirm that they have no interest in doing anything about climate change or the Great Barrier Reef really,” said Jon Brodie, a well-known coral reef scientist at James Cook University.