What a heckled Labor minister tells us about the national conversation on climate and tax
The factors holding back the energy transition are strikingly similar to those holding back tax reform. Might the solution to both be the same?
The reception Labor's Andrew Leigh received at The Australia Institute's Climate Integrity Summit speaks volumes about the divisions around two of the biggest policy issues facing the country.
The Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities, Treasury and Employment gave a relatively pragmatic speech focused on improving disclosures of companies about their climate risks to improve transparency and the flow of investment funds. But he found himself heckled by supporters of the left-leaning think tank as he left the Parliament theatre stage.
The institute's executive director Richard Denniss stepped in to ask the crowd to treat future speakers in the line-up with respect. But he shouldn't have been too surprised by the reaction, given Leigh's speech came on the tail of the Institute's own climate and energy program director Polly Hemming who ripped into the government for not being "better" than the Coalition, just "less bad".
There were no Liberal or National MPs in the summit's line up but one can't help but wonder what reception they might have received if they had been.
