Labor leader argues delaying action on climate change would ‘be a disaster for our economy’ and ‘you have to invest to get a return’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, has hit back at calls to detail the cost of his party’s emission reduction plan, arguing the country can’t afford inaction on climate change.

In the first leaders’ debate of the election campaign, held in Perth on Monday night, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, demanded Shorten outline the cost of his target to cut emissions by 45% by 2030.

In response to calls for the Labor leader to “enlighten” voters, Shorten said that he believed Australians wanted to see “real action on climate change” and understood that doing so carried some cost.

“This issue of ‘give us one number’, I don’t think that’s possible to do (but) if we want to stop polluting the environment, you have to spend some money, you do have to make some actions,” Shorten said.

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“I can categorically say that if we don’t take real action on climate change, that will be a disaster for our economy.

“I can categorically guarantee that if we invest in climate change policies and we are fair dinkum, in the future we will have more jobs … and lower energy prices.

“Like all action on climate change, you have got to invest to get a return.”

He said the party was committed to “least cost abatement” and wanted to push ahead with the national energy guarantee proposed by Malcolm Turnbull as a mechanism for providing certainty in the electricity sector.

Morrison said Labor’s climate change policy required the opposition to achieve 1.3bn tonnes of emission reduction over the next decade, and suggested a large amount would be achieved by “forcing” companies to buy foreign carbon credits.

“How much of that (abatement) is going to be done through that process, and what is the cost to the economy?” Morrison asked.

“I mean if there is going to be a change … Australians deserve to know what is the cost of the change.”

Morrison said that while climate change required “urgent action”, the government had met the Kyoto 2020 emission targets and now had a “climate surplus” as it sought to meet the Paris target of 26% to 28% cut of emissions by 203o.

The debate over climate also forayed into questions about Labor’s electric vehicle policy, with Shorten being asked the cost of a Nissan Leaf car – one of the most popular electric vehicles on the market.

“I haven’t bought a new car for a while, so I couldn’t tell you,” Shorten said.

Morrison said the electric car was $28,000 more than a petrol equivalent.

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The debate also asked the leaders about the lack of trust in politics, pointing to the revolving door of leadership that has been a mainstay of politics since Kevin Rudd won the 2007 election.

Morrison said that both the Liberal and Labor parties had made changes to their leadership rules to ensure that a leader could not be removed unless an overwhelming number of MPs supported doing so.

“They can’t happen again and they shouldn’t happen again … and this means at this election there will be the opportunity I think for the Australian people for the first time in a long time that the prime minister they elect at this election will be the prime minister that will serve over the next three years.”

The debate in Perth was the first time the two leaders have faced off in the election campaign, with another “people’s forum” planned for Friday night.