Fabio Mattioli and Kari Dahlgren write in The Conversation (11.10.19) that the Labor Party will not win an election by cozying up to the coal industry or by weakening its climate target. Instead, the authors suggest, Labor must find the common ground uniting workers in the cities and the regions – job insecurity.
‘Months after Labor’s shock election loss, it is still pondering how the Liberals metamorphosed from party of the bosses to party of the workers – one that stole an election win from under them.
‘At the May 18 federal election, several working class seats in Queensland did not fall into Labor’s hands as expected, and the party narrowly retained others in New South Wales with large negative swings.
‘They include the coal seat of Hunter, north of Sydney, where Labor’s resources spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon suffered a 10% swing against him. He this week claimed constituents were scared off by Labor’s ambitious emissions reduction goal – which necessarily entails curbing the burning of fossil fuels such as coal.
‘Fitzgibbon called on Labor to adopt the government’s weak emissions targets – a call that drew ire from some of his colleagues. But there is no doubt that since Labor’s election loss, the party has set about proving itself as pro-coal.
‘Days after the election, the controversial Adani mine received long-outstanding approvals from the Queensland Labor government, which also adopted a strong pro-coal message at its party conference. Federal Labor MPs were reportedly tripping over themselves to join the newly formed group Parliamentary Friends of Coal Exports.
‘But cosying up to coal is not the way forward for Labor. Instead, it must find the common ground that unites workers in the cities and the regions – job insecurity – and build a consensus for climate action on that basis.’
- Coal miners and urban greenies have one thing in common, and Labor must use it »
- Coal mines can be closed without destroying livelihoods – here’s how »
- Labor’s climate and resources spokesmen at odds over future policy »
- Labor feels the heat in climate change grudge match »
- Australia should continue to export coal, Albanese says »
- Per Capita report – At the Coalface: Work, Community and Climate Change »
- We need politicians to have the guts to admit it’s going to hurt to fight climate change »
- Public support for new coalmines falls even among Coalition voters, ANU poll finds »
- Germany is shutting down its coal industry for good, so far without sacking a single worker »
- Our social identity shapes how we feel about the Adani mine – and it makes the energy wars worse »
- Creative destruction: the COVID-19 economic crisis is accelerating the demise of fossil fuels »
- Labor politicians need not fear: Queenslanders are no more attached to coal than the rest of Australia »
- QIC to take a $150 million stake in massive coal port »
- On coal, oil and gas, Australia is becoming more isolated »
- ‘We’re the other half of the nation’: the precarious art of winning central Queensland hearts and minds »
- Tanya Plibersek rejects two Queensland coalmines over failure to provide detail on environmental impact