Shadow Communications Minister Melissa McIntosh found that the majority of people in her local community do not support the Albanese government’s new emissions or net zero targets, according to her own poll.
McIntosh launched a community survey after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that Australia would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 62 to 70 percent by 2035.
In a recent interview with 2SM Mornings, McIntosh said, “I absolutely reject this target.”
“I’m actually asking my community through a survey what they feel about all this,” McIntosh said.
“I’ve only got a few hundred responses back, but right now, 86 percent of people are saying no, they don’t support the target. High percentage that do not support net zero.”
The shadow minister represents the electorate of Lindsay in Western Sydney, covering suburbs including Penrith, Oxley Park, and St Mary’s.
McIntosh highlighted her goal to discuss the climate targets and energy policy with Australians.
“We really do need to be asking the Australian people. There’s so much political rhetoric and discussion around this that we need to calm ourselves and say, okay, Australia, where do you want our country to go?” she said.
“What do you want us to do as leaders? Do you want to have our data centres powered here in Australia? To do that, we need to have a pragmatic energy policy, not be off with the fairies around, you know, 2035 net zero targets.”
The survey also asks people to reveal their thoughts on net-zero emissions by 2050.
“We’ve got 80 percent saying no to a net zero by 2050 and we’ve got up to nearly 90 percent saying they don’t support the 2035 emissions reduction target.”
McIntosh made it clear her questions were not about “denying climate change.” She said Australia had a role to play in reducing emissions, but not via a target that was unachievable and risked doing more harm to citizens than good to the planet.
“I want us to have a pragmatic energy policy that includes prioritising Australian sovereignty, like powering our own data centres so our information stays in our country, strengthening our defence manufacturing so we can build to protect ourselves, and securing our energy future by putting our nation first,” she said.
Australia’s Climate Targets at the UN
Albanese has been pushing Australia’s climate targets at the U.N. Secretary-General’s climate action event.
He also pushed Australia’s ambitions to host the COP31 climate change conference in 2026.
“Australia is acting to meet the environmental challenge of climate change while working to seize and share the economic opportunities of renewable energy,” Albanese said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in New York.
“We will meet our 2030 target of 43 per cent emissions reduction on 2005 levels. And last week we set our target for 2035: cutting emissions by 62 to 70 per cent.”
Albanese again rejected nuclear power for Australia in an interview on Sept. 28.
“Well, it doesn’t stack up economically. See if you can find someone who’s investing in it. No one’s been able to do that, which is why the Coalition went to an election saying that taxpayers would have to do it because the private sector, it just doesn’t add up for what is necessary to for the immediate needs,” he said on Sky News Australia.
CCP Cutting Emissions by a Fraction
In contrast to Australia’s ambitious target, Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping recently pledged to cut total greenhouse gas emissions by just 7 to 10 percent by 2035.
This was Beijing’s first-ever reduction target.
Xi is planning to make wind, solar, and hydropower cover 30 percent of the power system in the next decade.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump recently told the U.N. General Assembly that climate change was “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.”
“All of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong,” Trump said.
He said this had cost countries fortunes and given them “no chance for success.”
“If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said.
