Australia politics live: Turnbull says Coalition energy policy dictated by ‘ideology and idiocy’ as Ley attacks Labor-Greens environment deal | Australia news
Turnbull criticises Coalition’s approach to climate change
Josh Butler
The former PM Malcolm Turnbull has decried “reality denial and physics denial” within the Coalition on climate change, claiming the opposition’s policy was dictated by “ideology and idiocy”.
The former moderate Liberal leader, deposed by right-wingers in a playroom coup related to energy policy, returned to parliament house on Thursday for the unveiling of his official prime ministerial portrait. In a speech – with Sussan Ley and some other shadow ministers in the audience – Turnbull was critical of his former party.
It’s been seven years since I stopped being prime minister, and there’s still reality denial, physics denial is still alive.
Speaking in favour of clean energy projects like wind, solar and battery storage, Turnbull said it was “interesting now that we’re still having the same insane conversations on the right of politics about it.”
When I was prime minister, I used to say tediously to everyone who listened to me, energy policy should be determined by engineering and economics, not ideology and idiocy. That’s kind of common sense, isn’t it?
What [wife] Lucy’s father would have called the penetrating glimpse of the obvious, but nothing’s changed.
In a brief press conference afterward, Turnbull claimed “there’s a major problem on what used to be called the right [wing] of politics. They’ve lost their way”.
There is a group of people there [in the Coalition], by now I think essentially the majority, who think the object of politics is to win the approval of a relatively narrow part of what you might call the right wing media – Sky ‘after dark’ and fellow travellers on social media and radio. They’re running on culture war issues, on reality denial. It’s really sad, and you can see from the electoral results, and you can see from the polling, it doesn’t work.
Turnbull claimed there were “real questions” about whether the Liberals can survive as a party and political movement, and claimed the “few supporters left in the business community would just be horrified” by the Coalition not making a deal on the EPBC environmental laws.
Key events
Petra Stock
Australia’s emissions projected to fall 48% by 2035: more action needed
Updated emissions projections released today show Australia’s emissions are expected to fall to 48% below 2005 levels by 2035.
“More action is needed to achieve Australia’s 2035 target,” the document said, given the government’s commitment to reduce emissions to 62-70% below 2005 levels by 2035.
In terms of tracking against the 2035 target, emissions are 20–34% above the 2031–2035 emissions budget.
Meanwhile, Dan Tehan, the shadow minister for energy and emissions reduction, has replied to Bowen’s statement by focusing on energy prices.
He told the house the government had repeatedly promised a $275 cut in electricity prices.
Their Christmas present this year will be an increase in their electricity bill of $1,300 … This is not a broken promise, this is betrayal.
Business Council of Australia responds to Labor-Greens environmental deal
‘Missed opportunity’ is also the reaction of the Business Council of Australia who say the reforms won’t deliver “transformational economic change”.
BCA chief executive, Bran Black, says the business group has supported reform to the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC), but raised concern that the agreed upon position still contains “ambiguity and risk, which may shut out projects before a proper assessment”.
In a statement, Black says:
We have always said a sensible, stable reform backed by both major parties is what we need if Australia is to deliver the energy and renewables, critical minerals and infrastructure projects that underpin productivity and living standards.
Our concern with this package, as it stands, is that there’s lots more work to do to deliver a net benefit for business and the economy.
He also adds that the BCA does not support the concession to the Greens that prevents gas projects from being approved through “streamlined pathways”.
‘Missed opportunity’ on environmental reforms, says WA premier
One of the key players in the environmental reforms has been none other than the WA premier, Roger Cook, who essentially forced the PM to scupper the previous EPBC reforms led by former environment minister Tanya Plibersek.
This time, Cook seems to be more comfortable with the negotiated deal – but he revealed at a breakfast this morning, that he’d rather it have been done with the Coalition.
I’m pleased we are getting it done, but there has been a missed opportunity here and that missed opportunity was to do an agreement with the Liberal party to make sure the legislation perhaps had further reflected the concerns about industry.
Cook doesn’t hold back in his criticism of the Coalition though.
The Liberal party are a dysfunctional rabble. They’ve been marginalised, basically led by the nose by Pauline Hanson and Barnaby Joyce and quite frankly they’ve let WA industry and the WA community down by not being better engaged.
Sarah Basford Canales
It’s been a busy morning for the last Senate sitting day of the year and we’re seeing a flurry of inquiries being voted on.
The Coalition’s push to hold an inquiry into the illegal tobacco crisis in Australia has passed with the Greens’ support. Curiously, one Greens senator, Jordon Steele-John, appeared to leave the chamber during the vote.
An inquiry put forward by senator David Shoebridge into Australia’s offshore processing regime also passes swiftly with the help of the Coalition.
It will report back by June 2026 and look at arrangements with Nauru, Papua New Guinea and other countries for offshore processing and resettlement options.
Petra Stock
Bowen: Renewable energy now powering half of the national grid
The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, said renewable electricity made up half of the national grid in October – for the first time ever – a trend that continued in November.
We’ve seen over 6 GWh of new large-scale battery capacity entering the national grid. This has allowed battery discharge to increase by a massive 150%.”
The pipeline remains strong … The Australian energy market operator’s latest Connections Scorecard shows the development pipeline for the main national grid has ballooned out to 275 projects, representing a total of 56.6 GW in generation and storage capacity.
He said five out of 15 capacity investment scheme tenders had been completed, resulting in over 16 gigawatts of projects under contract or negotiation.
Petra Stock
Emissions projections indicate Australia not yet on track for 2035 target
Chris Bowen says Australia is largely on track to achieving its 2030 target.
Australia’s 2025 emissions projections show that with currently implemented government policies, Australia is on track to achieve the 2030 target in budget terms and is close to achieving the 2030 point in time target.
The emissions projections also show additional work is needed to achieve the 2035 target.
While the 2035 target is ambitious and achievable, it is not yet being achieved.
However, he noted the projections did not include new policies announced as part of the government’s net zero plan in September.
Petra Stock
Bowen: Ten years on from the Paris Agreement ‘the world is making progress’
Jumping back to the House where the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, is speaking. He says 10 years on from the Paris Agreement, the world is taking action.
The world is making progress. Dealing with the challenges and headwinds, and making a difference.
Not only reducing emissions, but also building a more reliable energy system, and setting us up for economic success in a decarbonising global economy.
The world is doing it. We’re doing it too.
Turnbull criticises Coalition’s approach to climate change
Josh Butler
The former PM Malcolm Turnbull has decried “reality denial and physics denial” within the Coalition on climate change, claiming the opposition’s policy was dictated by “ideology and idiocy”.
The former moderate Liberal leader, deposed by right-wingers in a playroom coup related to energy policy, returned to parliament house on Thursday for the unveiling of his official prime ministerial portrait. In a speech – with Sussan Ley and some other shadow ministers in the audience – Turnbull was critical of his former party.
It’s been seven years since I stopped being prime minister, and there’s still reality denial, physics denial is still alive.
Speaking in favour of clean energy projects like wind, solar and battery storage, Turnbull said it was “interesting now that we’re still having the same insane conversations on the right of politics about it.”
When I was prime minister, I used to say tediously to everyone who listened to me, energy policy should be determined by engineering and economics, not ideology and idiocy. That’s kind of common sense, isn’t it?
What [wife] Lucy’s father would have called the penetrating glimpse of the obvious, but nothing’s changed.
In a brief press conference afterward, Turnbull claimed “there’s a major problem on what used to be called the right [wing] of politics. They’ve lost their way”.
There is a group of people there [in the Coalition], by now I think essentially the majority, who think the object of politics is to win the approval of a relatively narrow part of what you might call the right wing media – Sky ‘after dark’ and fellow travellers on social media and radio. They’re running on culture war issues, on reality denial. It’s really sad, and you can see from the electoral results, and you can see from the polling, it doesn’t work.
Turnbull claimed there were “real questions” about whether the Liberals can survive as a party and political movement, and claimed the “few supporters left in the business community would just be horrified” by the Coalition not making a deal on the EPBC environmental laws.
Petra Stock
Australians embracing solar, batteries and low emissions transport, says climate change and energy minister
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, is on his feet in parliament giving an annual climate statement. Bowen said “something incredible” was happening across the country.
Over 1,000 households are having a battery installed in their home each day.
Over 500 households are installing solar panels for the first time each day – joining the one in three Australian households who already have them in place.
And around 1,000 motorists are getting in to a brand new hybrid, electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid each day.
Tom McIlroy
‘Secret’ Aukus committee ‘doesn’t pass the pub test’, says crossbench MP
Crossbench MPs are not happy at the prospect of a secretive new committee of federal parliament to consider the Aukus nuclear submarine deal and Australia’s involvement in military conflicts.
Labor and the Coalition are preparing to pass legislation to establish a joint house and Senate committee on defence, with a makeup mirroring the powerful parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security.
That committee excludes MPs from the crossbench and minor parties.
Independent MP Nicolette Boele had pushed amendments for the new committee to include crossbenchers, but the move was unsuccessful.
If Australians who voted beyond the major parties don’t get a voice on national security committees, that’s a profoundly undemocratic state of affairs
National security belongs to the nation – not to the major parties.
Boele noted only 35% of voters gave Labor their first preference at the May election.
Shutting out MPs elected by the Australian people just to protect a duopoly doesn’t pass the pub test.
Tom McIlroy
As part of the deal to pass changes to the country’s environment laws, the federal government has agreed to Greens demands for an extra $50m in funding for the ABC.
Greens spokesperson, Sarah Hanson-Young, said the funding boost for the public broadcaster would see more Australian made content on TV and radio in the months and years to come:
As part of our negotiations, we have secured an extra $50m dollars for the ABC to invest in Australian stories, in our kids content, in our local drama.
It’s a good win for our broadcaster. It’s a good win for our kids television and kids entertainment, and it’s a good win for Australian jobs.
Police praise bystanders after fatal shark attack on NSW mid-north coast
NSW police’s Timothy Bayly is giving an update on a fatal shark attack on the mid-north coast:
New South Wales ambulance attended the scene but sadly the woman passed away at the scene.
At this stage, the woman is believed to be aged in her mid 20s and formal identification is not yet occurred.
The detective inspector says a man also aged in his mid-20s was attacked by the shark. He was airlifted to hospital and is in a critical condition.
I can say at this stage as they were known to each other. They were going for a swim and the shark attacked.
Police have also praised bystanders at the beach who applied a tourniquet to the man, stablising his condition before he received treatment from paramedics.
The courage from some bystanders is amazing. To put yourself out there is very heroic and it did give us time to get to that male patient.
Coalition try to remove debate guillotine in Senate
As we’ve been reporting this morning, the government and Greens voted this morning to bring on debate of the environment laws in the Senate.
But debate will be cut short by 3.30pm when the Senate will go to a vote.
So the Coalition – who are pretty unhappy with Labor’s deal with the Greens – are trying to move a motion in the Senate to essentially remove that guillotine that would cut off debate, and allow the Senate to consider the bill further.
Without the Greens the Coalition don’t have the numbers – crossbenchers, David Pocock (who is also critical of the deal) and Tammy Tyrrell are voting with the Coalition to allow further debate.
Coalition: Ley left on read by PM
The Coalition say that the government should have worked with them to pass the legislation next year, and Ley says the prime minister did not offer a meeting with her to negotiate – as he claimed this morning.
Giving us a few more details, the opposition leader says she reached out to the PM after question time yesterday.
I didn’t receive an offer from the prime minister to meet I texted him after Question Time and the tax remains unanswered. I come back to the point about the lack of good faith negotiations because, we know that this could have gone into next year we could have taken the time to get it right.
The opposition are also highly critical of the government for putting a tight time limit on debate of the bill in the Senate.
The debate will go to 3.30pm today, when a vote will take place.
Ley says ‘dirty deal’ will hike up energy prices
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, says the government and the Greens have come up with a “bad deal” and it was “not necessary” for the bill to be passed this year.
As she speaks to reporters, she’s holding the Coalition’s energy policy booklet.
She accuses the Greens of being anti-gas and anti-resources and says the concessions by the government will lead to communities and jobs being under threat.
What is very clear from the reaction so far to the dirty deal done by the Labor party with the Greens, a deal that was not necessary to conclude today or this year what is absolutely clear is this going to put energy prices up. It will provide further pressure on electricity bills for struggling households and families … The Greens party has always been at war with gas.
The shadow environment minister, Angie Bells, rejects “assertions” the Coalition was not at the table to negotiate with the government. Murray Watt said this morning the Coalition’s negotiations were a “shambles”. Bell says:
It is a bad bill for those Australians who work in the sectors that will be impacted by this and I reject any assertion that the Coalition was not at the table right up until the very last point last night, 9:30pm. We were still talking to the government around our commitments and adjustments we feel that were needed for this bill.
Josh Taylor
Telecoms ombudsman records spike in complaints about triple zero around Optus outage
The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO) noticed a spike in complaints about customers having difficulty reaching triple zero on mobile phones around the time of the Optus outage in September, but cannot attribute all to the Optus outage.
The ombudsman went from recording six complaints in August this year, to 22 in September and 34 in October, according to data provided to the Senate inquiry on the Optus outage.
The TIO said this spike does not necessarily demonstrate an increase in network outages or failed calls, with more than half of the complaints occurred in the weeks or months prior to the 18 September Optus outage.
It is also likely that media on the Optus outage encouraged consumers to make complaints about triple zero that may previously have gone unreported.
The TIO said many of these failed attempts appear unrelated to network outages such as pre-existing reception issues, handset faults, or landline issues. Two of the complaints related to the Optus outage, and one is linked to a TPG outage in June.
The complaints appear for all three major mobile networks, and across at least five different states or territories over a range of dates.
The TIO also revealed it received two complaints on the date of the Optus outage relating to the same medical emergency where they weren’t able to call triple zero on Optus, before eventually calling on another network. The TIO passed these issues on to Optus at the time, but did not get confirmation of the outage from Optus until the company announced it at the press conference held late Friday.
Australian Energy Producers chief says government’s environmental deal ‘not in the national interest’
The peak body for gas producers has denounced the government’s environment deal with the Greens, and called it a “squandered opportunity”.
While environment groups have largely welcomed the deal (though expressed concerns it will still allow the expansion of fossil fuel projects), the fossil fuel sector is unhappy.
The Greens deal removes fast-tracked approvals for fossil fuel projects.
Australian Energy Producers chief executive, Samantha McCulloch, said carving gas out of streamlined reforms is “not in the national interest”, and the laws won’t address costs and delays in delivering gas to Australians.
[This] is a squandered opportunity to address the significant costs and delays in delivering gas to Australian consumers … Carving gas out of streamlined reforms is simply not in the national interest. The deal will entrench slow approvals which will drive up energy costs, deter investment and further delay the new gas supply Australia urgently needs.
By conceding to the Greens, the Government has chosen more red tape and uncertainty instead of enabling new gas supply.
Malcolm Turnbull’s portrait being unveiled in parliament
Well it’s all happening today, isn’t it!
As is customary for all past prime ministers, Malcolm Turnbull’s portrait is being unveiled this morning at parliament house.
He has this to say:
The challenges to democracy are very real, we look across the Pacific and we see what is happening in the United States and it shakes every assumption that we have had, you look at what is happening in Europe, we look at the challenges in our own region.
Democracy is under siege, but here in Australia I believe it is stronger than just about anywhere else.
Both Anthony Albanese and Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, are there for the unveiling.
Environmental groups welcome Labor-Greens EPBC deal but remain concerned over fossil fuel approvals
The government and the Greens are pretty happy about their deal announced this morning, and so too are some of the climate and environment advocacy groups.
But they warn the job of protecting nature isn’t done, and express concern that the legislation will still allow the expansion of fossil fuel projects.
The Greenpeace Australia Pacific CEO, David Ritter, said:
The agreement announced today secures a significant improvement on the broken laws that for too long failed to deliver credible environmental protection.
Removing the risk of fast-tracking coal and gas projects is also welcome. But the big sting in the tail is that the legislation still fails to address the enormous climate harm to nature from these sorts of projects. It still leaves the door open for the heedless expansion of coal and gas.
The Climate Council CEO, Amanda McKenzie, said the law still “fails” the 2025 climate test.
This deal strengthens protections for our native forests, and provides a faster yes to responsible renewable energy projects that cut climate pollution … But this 2025 law fails the climate test. All new coal and gas projects still get a free pass on climate pollution. In fact, the law forbids the environment minister from considering a project’s climate pollution when assessing whether it should go ahead.
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