Back in 2007, Kevin Rudd famously declared climate change ''the great moral challenge of our generation''. Moral or not, that challenge has been met in the intervening years with policy paralysis and blame-shifting. And like a political grim reaper, it has cut a swathe through the leadership of the major parties.
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| As the fire front approaches an RFS crew asseses the perimeter at Barden Ridge, Sydney. Photo: Kate Geraghty |
And if that is not a sufficient wake-up call, how about the fact our bushfire season this year looks like stretching to Anzac Day?
The good news is that an end is in sight, just possibly, to this dismal period of politics being allowed to trump the national and global interest. On Friday, Federal Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg will meet his state counterparts in Canberra for a Council of Australian Governments meeting that will decide if work is to continue on the Turnbull Government's National Energy Guarantee.
The NEG is far from perfect but it is the most promising compromise that has appeared for a long time on the horizon of the interlocking climate and energy debates. It imposes a twin obligation on energy retailers to reduce carbon emissions and at the same time maintain reliability standards. If it works properly, it promises to drive investment in baseload energy supply, support the transition to renewables, prevent avoidable blackouts, and short-circuit soaring household energy bills.
But obstacles remain and COAG is one of them. Thanks to political leaders at all levels placing loyalty to their party above their constituencies, COAG has frequently been the place where reform goes to die. There is almost always an election looming up somewhere to derail bipartisanship and the present moment is no exception, with Victoria, NSW, and possibly the Commonwealth all set to go to the polls over the next 12 months.
On the other side of the ledger, Steven Marshall's recent South Australian Liberal victory removes one obstacle, in the form of that state's headlong rush to renewables under former Premier Jay Weatherill.
The most promising sign of all is that federal Labor is edging towards the NEG tent. Labor wants deeper cuts to emissions than those agreed under Paris but has realised the NEG, far from being an obstacle, may be a tool towards achieving those cuts. This is because, with parliamentary backing, the emissions targets under the NEG could be ratcheted up under a future Government. Other imperfections of the scheme – including too-intermittent reviews, or the possibility states could be punished for pursuing more ambitious targets – could likewise be rectified.
A breakthrough on the NEG would be a major victory for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, as well as burnishing Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg's future leadership credentials. But Labor leader Bill Shorten could also gain stature by showing he is capable of recognising a moment when real progress beckons and grasping it. Such sweet reasonableness could even become a template for tackling the unanswered problem of how to reduce greenhouse emissions in other parts of the economy without imposing unnecessary costs and hitting jobs.
So let's be clear: if ever there was a time for state and federal political leaders to rise above partisanship, this is it.
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