MP to miss conference

WARREN Entsch will likely be a noshow at the UN climate summit in Glasgow next week, despite speculation Australia’s special reef envoy would make the guest list.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s commitment to a net-zero emissions target by 2050 has arrived just in time for COP26 climate conference, but the devil is in the detail.

Mr Entsch said he expected detractors, but the pledge for carbon neutrality was being rolled out in a responsible and transparent manner.

“We’ve got groups now saying it’s got to be 100 per cent by 2025,” he said.

“My question is how are we going to do it? Even if we were able to do nuclear, there’s no way in the world we could get that in time.

“Who are they going to blame when the lights go off?”

The Leichhardt MP said it was becoming “more and more unlikely” that he would not attend the summit due to uncertainty about getting back home.

“First of all, I can’t come back to Queensland. I can probably come back to NSW or Victoria, and the ACT has indicated it will be open by November 1,” he said.

“However if there’s a sudden surge in numbers, there’s no guarantee they’re going to reopen.”

Mr Entsch said he did not want to be stranded overseas or in quarantine when interstate and international tourists were just about to return to the Far North, but he would attend meetings via Zoom if required.

Cairns-based Labor Senator Nita Green said Mr Entsch would likely avoid embarrassment by staying home.

She argued the Prime Minister’s plan was just a PowerPoint slide about which industries would reduce emissions with projections based on work state and territories were already doing.

“They haven’t introduced any new policies, they haven’t introduced any investment and they’re not going to legislate the 2050 target,” she said.

“They’re saying there will be new technology by the time we get to 2050 that will reduce our emissions enough.

“There were also promises about protecting the region, but no extra policies for that investment.

“And they’re not releasing the modelling that underpins the things said today. It’s a scam, not a plan, it’s a PowerPoint presentation, not a policy.”

Senator Green said she feared Australia would “look like absolute idiots” on the world stage if it delivered a plan with no meat on its bones.