Labor leader Anthony Albanese has set a target of 43 per cent emissions cut by 2030.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer
Mr Albanese said the cost to the budget over the forward estimates is almost $700 million,but it will create 604,000 new jobs by 2030,with five out of every six in regional areas. He said it would spur $52 billion of private sector investment.
“We will establish a ‘powering the regions’ fund from the existing emissions reduction funding Climate Solutions Fund,but in addition to that,we allocate up to $3 billion of the national reconstruction fund for industries to adapt and grow,” Mr Albanese said on Friday.
The plan will rely on a little-known element of the federal government’s current policy,known as the Safeguard Mechanism,to do more of the work in achieving bigger cuts to emissions.
The mechanism caps the emissions at about 200 large companies in sectors like resources and industrial production,but the government has set generous caps that do not expect significant cuts.
The Labor approach could be more demanding in order to deepen the cuts from the government forecast of 35 per cent to the Labor goal of 43 per cent.
Mr Albanese said that specific number was arrived at by starting with what Australia can do to grow jobs,reduce emissions and cut power prices,rather than from an arbitrary target.
“What we didn’t do was adopt a target and then work back. What we did was work through what other good policy mechanisms will see a growth in jobs,a reduction in emissions,growth in renewables and a reduction in power prices for households and business,and then see where that came up through the modelling,” he said.