Below is a letter sent to Daniel Mulino MP, assistant treasurer and minister for financial services, from constituent Paul Tyndale-Biscoe.
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Dear Daniel,
First, congratulations on your re-election. While your two-party preferred result of 59% is comfortable, and the Australian Electoral Commission website describes Fraser as a safe Labor seat, the numbers tell a more nuanced story.
With 42.6% of first preferences, against the Greens Huong Truong’s 25.3%, it is telling that, with nearly a quarter of the electorate voting Green, the Greens have now replaced the Liberals as the alternative party in Fraser.
Across the country the Greens, Teals and other progressives that reflect the widespread desire for real action on climate change, got around 20% of the primary vote. It is clear that many Australians voted to keep the Coalition out rather than gave an endorsement to Labor’s policies.
Despite the two-party preferred result, with just 34.6% of the primary vote nationally, two thirds voted for other parties or independents; Labor’s two-party preferred result of 55.3% is merely a reflection of our distaste for the alternative.
Most credible national surveys of Australians’ attitudes to climate change say around 70–75% want real action. This is only growing as we face increasing climate change related disasters; droughts, floods, cyclones and so on that are rendering millions vulnerable and uninsurable.
Unless you choose to deliberately ignore the science, and the scientific community, there is no doubt burning fossil fuels is driving this phenomenon.
Your government’s recent approval of Woodside’s North-West Shelf gas plant expansion is therefore an appalling abrogation of your responsibility to the country and the future, and clearly contravenes the wishes of most Australians.
The reasons for this decision are not clear, and can only be the result of hidden, backroom deals that have been done to benefit a few and to the detriment of us all.
The justifications presented to the public do not stack up.
Australia has sufficient gas already to support the transition to renewables; most of the gas from this project will be exported and it seems that Japan, for example, does not need it either, and simply on-sells much of it at a profit.
Your government’s claim that it aligns with the commitment to net zero by 2030 are patently false; the claimed offsetting of carbon emissions against other carbon mitigation measures only apply to the carbon emitted in the extraction and processing of the gas, not the burning of it, which is where the majority of the emissions come from.
So this is merely off-shoring responsibility for dealing with the emissions to other countries, many of which either do not have the ability or inclination to do so.
Approving this project to 2070 is criminal.
We are a rich country and are uniquely placed to lead the world away from fossil fuels to a renewable future. We don’t need this revenue stream, even if a small proportion of it flows into the national coffers.
Our near neighbours in the Pacific face an existential threat from rising sea levels and across Asia and further afield, climate change fuelled disasters are increasingly common. If wealthy countries like Australia don’t take the threat of climate change seriously then there is no hope.
More than two-thirds of Australians still have hope that this government will take this seriously. If you do not, and gas project extension is approved then your victory at the recent election will be short-lived.
Australians don’t want what the Coalition is offering, but they do agree with what the Teals and Greens are saying.
Labor has a unique opportunity to make Australia a visionary country that leads the world. But using this power, gifted to Labor from the Australian people, to drive more climate change will put Labor in the same boat as the Coalition. Labor will go down in history, accordingly.
The progressive movement went for Coalition seats in 2022 and 2025, but unless Labor shows it is willing to listen to Australians and make decisions for the good of the nation, not just for a few vested interests, then the movement will target Labor seats. This includes Fraser, where the Greens are in striking distance.
Unfortunately, this may be too late for the climate. I therefore urge you to do whatever you can to reverse this decision to approve Woodside’s plant.