May 13th 2021

Major parties ram bill through Parliament giving $5 billion to gas

Labor has joined forces with the Morrison Government today to rush through legislation weakening the rules for the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF). The new laws clear the way for a $5 billion slush fund to prop up unviable gas projects, pipelines, fracking and methane.

GetUp Climate Justice spokesperson Kathryn McCallum said:

“The major parties have broken trust with the public by joining together to push this destructive bill through the parliament today.

“When Prime Minister Scott Morrison stacked the Covid-19 Commission with gas executives, they anticipated billions in public funding to prop up unviable gas projects the market is sceptical of. They’re getting all this and more.  

“Which major political party has the guts and vision required to take on the climate crisis? Today it was neither. Albanese has cosigned a blank cheque for the gas industry alongside Scott Morrison — and done it just hours before his Budget Reply speech, in the hopes that no one will notice.

“It just goes to show: both sides of politics have a long way to go on climate. Take your pick: Liberal-branded handouts for the fossil fuel industries that are heating our planet, or Labor-branded ones.

“The major parties have failed to put the public interest ahead of polluting corporations. 

“This is why people power must push ahead for real progress on climate policy. 

“GetUp members and Australians everywhere who care more about the people we love than the bank balances of billionaires will show leadership where Labor and the Liberals won't."

 

Media contact: Alex McKinnon 0411 829 334

Spokespeople:
Kathryn McCallum
, GetUp’s Climate Justice Campaign Director