Labor is not an environmental party

July 7, 2025

In Peter Sainsbury’s very fine article, he noted that only two of the 29 new Labor caucus members saw the environment and climate as a priority for the next three years. Yet, “Labor still believes that being better than the other mob is enough”, he wrote.

No, it isn’t enough. Labor needs to be a lot better than the Coalition who, at federal level, have no environmental credentials at all. In the recent past, of course, Matt Kean, now chief executive of the Climate Change Authority, was a beacon of light when it came to climate action within the NSW Parliament. We have not seen his likes again in either major party, although we have within the Greens, Teals and Independents people like Senators Helen Haines and David Pocock.

With the approval of the North West Shelf extension by Environment Minister Murray Watt, Labor extinguished most of its claims to environmental credibility. Energy Minister Chris Bowen isn’t doing too badly in his portfolio in terms of reducing domestic emissions, but all his good work is countered by the continued opening of fossil fuel mines and the export of their products. Let’s hope the crossbench will hold Labor more to account.