The night before the Labor party's climate bill is expected to be introduced in parliament, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refuses to align with the Greens on new coal and gas projects.
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Speaking on ABC's 7.30 after the first official opening of the 47th Parliament on Tuesday, Mr Albanese said he will be supporting Labor's policy with a target 43 per cent reduction by 2030 and will not be implementing the Greens' proposal to ban all new coal and gas projects.
"That's not the policy of the Labor Party and we won't be supporting it, because that would have a devastating impact on our economy," he said.
Mr Albanese remained firm that the Labor party's policy would not be contributing to an increase in emissions as there would be "a replacement with coal from other countries that's likely to produce higher emissions".
"If Australia today said we are not going to export any more coal, what you would see is a lot of jobs lost, you would see a significant loss to our economy, significant less taxation revenue for education, health and other services," the Prime Minister said.
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The bill to be tabled on Wednesday will not risk Australia being unaligned to the United Nations' call for there to be a global movement to transitioning away from coal. Instead, the bill has "received support from global countries" including European partners and the Pacific Islands.
"We're back around the table of taking action on climate change, we're out of the naughty corner ... [the UN] measure emission based upon where they occur, not where the product comes from," Mr Albanese said.
"Japan doesn't have to account for its emissions if a Japanese car in Australia is emitting carbon dioxide and that is why the UN has that system."
Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen confirmed on Tuesday tweaks had been made in the draft legislation, clarifying targets can only be increased in the future and the 43 per cent goal was a floor not a ceiling on the government's ambition.
The Labor party will need the support of the Greens and possibly ACT independent David Pocock, both in support of a "climate trigger" which would require the project's emissions be considered during the environmental assessment process.
While Greens leader Adam Bandt was supportive of the government's agreement to tweak the bill, it is unlikely to be enough due to the Labor party's refusal to budge on coal and gas projects.
"I guess this issue of coal and gas has the potential to be the stumbling block because we're seeing very clearly from Pacific Island neighbours over the last couple of weeks, to the International Energy Agency to the UN, they're all saying 'you can't put the fire out if you throw petrol on it," Mr Bandt told ABC's RN Breakfast on Tuesday.