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Anthony Albanese,centre,has the support of Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock for legislating a 2030 emissions reduction target.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen,James Brickwood

Pocock’s comments will ratchet up pressure on the Greens,in particular,to come to the table after the party in 2009 sided with then-opposition leader Tony Abbott to vote down Kevin Rudd’s carbon pollution reduction scheme,citing its lack of ambition.

Former prime minister Julia Gillard’s carbon price,subsequently legislated,survived less than three years.

Appearing on ABC’sInsiders on Sunday morning,Pocock said he has been open in declaring he wants an interim target higher than 43 per cent on the way to net zero.

“But my sense is that what Australians really want is a target to be legislated. We have to actually bank some of these gains and I want to see a target with integrity”.

“There’s some real concerns about the way that we’re actually getting to whatever target we set and that’ll be my focus,” he said.

“Having a target and treating that ... as a floor,not a ceiling and then ramping up ambition over time.”

A spokesman for Greens leader Adam Bandt,who is currently on leave,said the party still hoped to improve,rather than block the legislation and referred back to the leader’s comments at the start of June.

“The public has just rejected this kind of hairy-chested ‘my way or the highway’ approach to climate that Labor is now taking. People want us to work together and the Greens are up for discussions about getting good climate laws passed,but it seems Labor isn’t,” Bandt said at the time.

Pocock welcomed the review of Australia’s emissions reductions fund by former chief scientist Ian Chubb as something that will restore integrity to the emission reduction calculations.

“[The fund] has some really serious allegations against it in terms of the quality and the integrity of the carbon credits that have been created under that scheme. We have to ensure that we’re cleaning up all these junk credits.”

He did not outline potential other amendments to the legislation,because it has not been released yet.

The new senator ducked questions about whether he would still support Labor’s 43 per cent target if it allowed new coal mines to be opened,saying Canberrans “want something legislated,we need the big picture policy to actually unlock investments in renewables”.

The ACT senator also praised Prime Minister Anthony Albanese,Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek resetting Australia’s international relationships.

“Announcing that we are back at the table when it comes to climate and environment is really important,” he said.

“This doesn’t make us a leader by any stretch. We’ve got a long way to go. And I think particularly in the Pacific,where climate change is the number one priority for Pacific island nations,we have to be playing our part in the region and in the international community.”

Pocock also said he did not support the proposed federal integrity commission having the power to sack politicians – as North Sydney independent Kylea Tink had suggested toThe Guardian – “because it wouldn’t be an elected body” and there were potential constitutional issues. On the contentious issue of how many advisers crossbench MPs are allocated,he said it should be set by an independent body,not the government.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news,views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weeklyInside Politics newsletter here.

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