Turnbull government selling Australia short on climate change – Bill Shorten

Labor has welcomed the announcement that Malcolm Turnbull will attend climate change talks in Paris this year but says the government is selling Australia short by taking global warming “sceptic” policies to the key meeting.

The prime minister revealed to Guardian Australia on Friday that it was his “intention” to attend the UN climate change meeting, which his predecessor, Tony Abbott, had decided to shun.

The government has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas pollution by at least 26% of 2005 levels by 2030, with the possibility of reducing it even further to 28% if the target does not adversely impact the economy.

Other developed nations will take more ambitious targets to December’s UN meeting, including the US, which has pledged a reduction of 26% to 28% by 2025, and the EU, which has pledged a reduction of 40% of 1990 levels by 2030.

The opposition leader, Bill Shorten, has labelled Australia’s goal as “climate-sceptic targets”.

“The Australian government is selling Australia short with their low targets and low aspirations, their knee-high ambitions for tackling climate change in Australia,” Shorten said on Sunday. “I’m glad that Malcolm Turnbull is going to Paris, I just wish he was taking policies other that Tony Abbott’s discredited Direct Action policy.”

He addded: “Whether or not Malcolm Turnbull goes to Paris or not is not going to stop global warming. The issue is what policies you adopt to defeat climate change.

“It’s not a question of what places you visit, or what selfies you take when you visit places, it’s a question of your actions. Unfortunately, Australia is not leading, we’re following other parts of the world.”

Shorten and his deputy, Tanya Plibersek, will visit low-lying Pacific nations for a four-day visit this week. They will discuss climate change with the governments of Papua New Guinea, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands.

The Greens have warned that Labor will face intense questioning from leaders in neighbouring countries over its support for big coal projects.

“Low-lying Pacific nations, including nations Mr Shorten is visiting, are urging a moratorium on new Australian coalmines,” said the deputy Greens leader, Larissa Waters. “Saying you want action on climate change and then ignoring coal exports is like taking one step forward and a giant leap backwards.”