Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said that Australia should withdraw itself from the Paris Climate Agreement that he agreed to while serving his term in office three years ago.
Back in 2015, then Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced a āresponsibleā as well as āachievableā emissions reduction pledge that he said had hit āthe right balanceā between both economic and environmental concerns.
However, last night Mr Abbott said that leaving the Paris agreement would be the best decision that the country could make at the moment.
In an appearance on Sky News, the ex-prime minister lashed out at the agreement, citing the withdrawal of the United States from the agreement and the āeconomic damageā of renewable energy. He said that if Australia had known about the damage that would be done āto our power systemā as well as āto our industriesā that his government would never have ratified the agreement.
He went on to say that now that Australia was aware of the damage that we should leave the agreement as quickly as possible.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop rebuked Mr Abbottās comments, saying that Australia would stay in the Paris agreement because we are a country that āplays by the rulesā. She said that if Australia signed an agreement that, āwe stick to the agreementā.
She went on to say that Australia sought to be recognised as a āreliable and trustedā nation and that she believed we could āachieve the target that we setā. She said that the targets were deliberately set so that they were realistically achievable so that Australia could honour its agreement.
Ms Bishop went on to say that Australia had made strong commitments in the Paris agreement that could not be simply or easily dismissed.
However, Mr Abbott refused to entertain that notion altogether.
He said that āfalse claimsā were being made by his former colleagues and that the Paris agreement was not a ābinding commitmentā but only an āaspirational targetā.
This news comes as a split develops in the Coalition ranks regarding the National Energy Guarantee (NEG). The comments from Mr Abbott are a suggestion that he may cross the Parliament floor to vote down the legislation.