China a bigger challenge than climate change, Joyce says - NEWS.com.au

Barnaby Joyce says China, not climate change, is the biggest issue facing his children and grandchildren’s lifetime.

The National Party MP was asked on Monday about Scott Morrison being snubbed from speaking at a climate summit over the weekend.

Mr Joyce told Sunrise the prime minister should not agree to a zero net emissions policy despite global and opposition pressure.

He said Australia needed to figure out what its biggest challenge was.

“I don’t think it is climate abatement,” Mr Joyce said.

“The biggest issue facing my children’s lifetime and my grandchildren’s lifetime is how they live in a world where China is a superpower and it is not a liberal democracy.

“We have to get our priorities right and priority number one is to be stronger than new growth in China.”

RELATED: Latest Aussie company on China’s hit list

But Labor backbencher Joel Fitzgibbon accused Mr Morrison of making Australia a “pariah” on the international stage.

“If you emit a tonne of carbon and you have a forest that absorbs it, your outcome is net zero,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.

“This is not a herculean task. This is something everyone is committing to around the world.”

Liberal MP Dave Sharma echoed Mr Morrison’s talking points, telling Sky News climate action was about “doing” not speaking.

He said medium term targets beyond on 2035 would be discussed at the UN climate change conference at Glasgow in November next year.

However, opposition energy spokesman Mark Butler said Australia was now out of step with the rest of the world.

Mr Butler pointed out that China, Japan and South Korea had committed to net zero emissions by mid-century and US president-elect Joe Biden planned to strengthen the US’s environmental policies.

“The rest of the world is shifting,” he said.

“The UK and all of Europe were already there, indeed they have accelerated their plans.”

Resources Minister Keith Pitt would not answer when asked if he was worried Australia would face retaliation from trading partners, if the nation was not seen to be doing enough to lower emissions.

“We’ve made a commitment for 2030 which we are delivering on,” Mr Pitt told ABC Radio National.

“It’s easy to make grand statements. There’s a lot of difference between actually delivering on those statements or not.”

Mr Pitt has also launched a parliamentary inquiry into workers struggling to get personal indemnity insurance because they work in the fossil fuels sector.

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2020-12-13 22:50:40Z
CBMioQFodHRwczovL3d3dy5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS90ZWNobm9sb2d5L2Vudmlyb25tZW50L2NsaW1hdGUtY2hhbmdlL2NoaW5hLWEtYmlnZ2VyLWNoYWxsZW5nZS10aGFuLWNsaW1hdGUtY2hhbmdlLWpveWNlLXNheXMvbmV3cy1zdG9yeS84MzBlYTc1YzVkMzJmYjcyYTRkNjZhNzVlNTI3YTQzMNIBoQFodHRwczovL2FtcC5uZXdzLmNvbS5hdS90ZWNobm9sb2d5L2Vudmlyb25tZW50L2NsaW1hdGUtY2hhbmdlL2NoaW5hLWEtYmlnZ2VyLWNoYWxsZW5nZS10aGFuLWNsaW1hdGUtY2hhbmdlLWpveWNlLXNheXMvbmV3cy1zdG9yeS84MzBlYTc1YzVkMzJmYjcyYTRkNjZhNzVlNTI3YTQzMA

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