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Greens leader Adam Bandt says the onus is now on Labor to explain why new coal and gas projects are needed as he flagged the party was open to negotiating on the government's key climate change policy.
Key points:
- Changes to the safeguard mechanism will tighten emissions on Australia's biggest polluters
- Mr Bandt says the Greens' proposal is an "offer, not an ultimatum"
- The government has repeatedly said it will not put a ban in place on new coal and gas projects
Last week, the Greens announced they would offer their support for the government's changes to the safeguard mechanism on the single condition that Labor block any new coal and gas projects from being developed.
The mechanism is the core of the government's plan to reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 and would cap the emissions of Australia's 215 heaviest-polluting companies.
Despite its announcement, Mr Bandt has characterised the party's position as an "offer, not an ultimatum" and indicated it would be open to "good faith discussions" with the government for its support.
With Labor repeatedly saying it would not agree to any ban on new projects, that appears to be a likely outcome.
But Mr Bandt said, as a start, the government will have to explain why any new projects are needed.
"The onus is on Labor to explain why it needs more coal and gas in a climate crisis," he said.
"Why does Labor want to go to the wall to open new coal and gas projects? These are huge climate bombs."
The Greens leader pointed out the party had compromised on a number of other policies to support the government's agenda and that "there is one thing we are asking for: don't make the problem worse".
Mr Bandt said despite those compromises, he believed the party's voter base could see they were the party with the strongest ambitions on climate change policy.
"I think people can see that we are the only ones in parliament at the moment fighting to stop coal and gas mines being opened," he said.
Government frontbencher Ed Husic said the election result proved voters want their parliament to work and Labor wanted to have a constructive approach to dealing with all parties, including crossbenchers.
"It is a moment in time to get things right," he said.
Cabinet minister Mark Butler argued it was not just the Greens who should get behind the legislation and that the Coalition could, and should, see the changes clear parliament to "put the climate wars behind us".
Treasurer urged to overturn RBA decision
Mr Bandt also called on the federal government to consider overriding the independent Reserve Bank's latest interest rate rise.
RBA Governor Philip Lowe has faced sustained criticism for the reserve bank's decision to increase interest rates nine times in a row and last week faced parliamentary grilling over the decisions.
Under the law, the Treasurer can intervene and overturn decisions made by the RBA.
Mr Bandt said it is something the government should consider.
"They've got the powers to do this, at the moment there is a lot of hand wringing from the government, a lot of hand wringing about this," he said.
"But not pulling any of the levers that they can and they are letting the big corporations continue to drive up inflation through corporate profiteering and they're not doing what they should."