Labor spending ‘too much time’ talking about climate change

Sky News Australia

Labor spending ‘too much time’ talking about climate change

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Joel Fitzgibbon has delivered an extraordinary rebuke of his own party claiming it spends too much time talking about climate change. Speaking to the media today following his resignation announcement from the Shadow Cabinet, Mr Fitzgibbon said an important feature of a political party is the ability to conduct robust debate and foster a contest of ideas. We have to speak to and be a voice for all those who we seek to represent, he said. Thats a difficult balance, but weve been juggling it for some time. But I think the Labor Party has been spending too much time in recent years talking about issues like climate change, which is a very important issue, and not enough time talking the needs of our traditional base. Mr Fitzgibbon pointed out Labor had produced at least six climate change and/or energy policies since the 2006 election, only one of which was adopted by a Labor government only to be repealed later by Tony Abbott. So the conclusion you can draw from that is after 14 years of trying, the Labor Party has made not one contribution to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in this country, he said. So if you want to act on climate change, the first step is to become the government, and to become the government you need to have a climate change and energy policy that can be embraced by the majority of the Australian people. Read More Our Apps