Media Release: Wills MP Peter Khalil reverses climate stance; now spruiks new fossil fuels
May 4, 2019 at 1:12 am John Englart 1 comment
No new coal or GAS pipeline infrastructure
Media Release
Wills MP Peter Khalil reverses climate stance; now spruiks new fossil fuels
Representatives from a range of climate groups gathered outside the office of Wills Labor MP Peter Khalil on Friday May 3 to protest against Khalil’s support for new fossil fuel developments. The protest was part of the School Strike 4 #ClimateElection National Day of Action.
At the Wills Climate forum held on Monday April 29, Peter Khalil MP revealed that he supports new fossil fuel infrastructure, despite his earlier calls for strong immediate action to slash carbon emissions.
Khalil was speaking in support of the Labor Party’s announcement of a $1.5 billion subsidy for a northern Australia gas pipeline network that would allow development of the Beetaloo and Galilee basin gasfields.(1)
Peter Khalil signed the climate emergency declaration in December 2016 (2).
Climate Action Moreland has endeavoured to keep Peter Khalil informed of the climate science, including passing on research reports, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees of global warming, published last year.” said John Englart, Convenor of Climate Action Moreland.(3)
“Many people in the audience at the climate forum on Monday evening were clearly dismayed that Peter Khalil would try to justify expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure, given his signing the climate emergency declaration.” said Englart.(4)
“The Science is pretty clear that gas should not be considered a transition fuel” (5) said Englart. “And gas is not cleaner than coal when the full impacts of fugitive emissions are considered.” (6)
“The IPCC report made clear that we need a massive economy-wide transformation in society to reduce emissions in the next 10 years for any chance of avoiding the climate catastrophe threatening human societal existence. We have a climate emergency.” (7)
“Building new gas infrastructure would lock in emissions at a time when we should not be opening any new fossil fuel extraction projects.” said Englart.
“Labor’s support for new gas infrastructure explodes the credibility of their climate policy. Peter Khalil needs to explain to the people in his electorate of Wills how he can combine his commitment for climate action with his support for this climate destroying project” concluded Englart.
John Englart
Convenor of Climate Action Moreland
Photos
High resolution photos of the Climate Action Forum on 29 April and of the climatestrike protest outside Peter Khalil’s office on May 3 are available to download from Flickr. Credit: John Englart
https://www.flickr.com/photos/takver/albums/72157706861022691
References
(1) Bill Shorten, 23 April, 2019 – media release
(2) Climate Action Moreland, Dec 2016 – Wills MP Peter Khalil endorses climate emergency declaration https://climateactionmoreland.org/2016/12/23/wills-mp-peter-khalil-endorses-climate-emergency-declaration/
(3) Climate Action Moreland, Oct 2018 – Coffee and climate action: Lobbying Wills MP Peter Khalil in Pascoe Vale https://climateactionmoreland.org/2018/10/17/coffee-and-climate-action-lobbying-wills-mp-peter-khalil-in-pascoe-vale/
(4) Climate Action Moreland, 1 May, 2019 – Peter Khalil MP supports gas, backtracks on climate emergency message #climateelection https://climateactionmoreland.org/2019/05/01/peter-khalil-mp-supports-gas-backtracks-on-climate-emergency-message/
(5) Climate Action Tracker Report, June 2017, ‘Foot off the gas: increased reliance on natural gas in the power sector risks an emissions lock-in: analysis’ https://climateactiontracker.org/publications/foot-gas-increased-reliance-natural-gas-power-sector-risks-emissions-lock-/
(6) Australia Institute commissioned research paper by the University of Melbourne Energy Institute. October 2016: ‘A review of current and future methane emissions from Australian unconventional oil and gas production’ http://www.tai.org.au/content/review-current-and-future-methane-emissions-australian-unconventional-oil-and-gas-production
(7) IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C , Summary for Policymakers, See C2.2 https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/
Entry filed under: Adani, Climate Emergency, election, Labors Climate Record, media release, news. Tags: climatestrike, fridaysforfuture, Gas, Peter Khalil.
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