Hi Vicky,

You might have seen the news yesterday that the government has announced Australia’s new 2035 climate target - a 62 to 70 per cent reduction in emissions compared to 2005 levels.

Since the announcement, I’ve been speaking to experts and community members about what this means for Australia. I wanted to share my initial thoughts with you.

It is clear that the government must be focused on the top end of the 62 - 70% range.

I hoped that the government would show more ambition, and have consistently called for a target close to 75%. However, I respect the target is based on independent expert advice from the Climate Change Authority (CCA).

What I am concerned about is such a broad range risks future policies defaulting to the lower end. This would fail to address the dangers of climate change.

We know that to align with 1.5° warming, we need to see a reduction of around 68% in global emissions by 2035. As one of the world's largest emitters, Australia needs to pull its weight.

I worry that a range which goes as low as 62% may not give clear enough policy signals to drive the significant change required to protect our economy, our security, our environment and our society.

It would also mean missing out on the huge economic opportunities of the clean energy transition.

That’s why I will be pushing the government to make 70 per cent the focus of our ambition - not the limit. The CCA report is explicit in stating that the government 'must aim for the top of the range' when formulating our future climate policies.

Announcing a 2035 target is just the beginning. The CCA's report is clear: even achieving the bottom end of the target range will not be easy. We will need to see significant new effort from the government and the private sector.

Reaching the lower end of the target range will require halving Australia's current emissions, more than doubling our decarbonisation rate and fronting up in areas the government has otherwise failed to act such as ending native forest logging.

I am glad to see the announcement of additional policies alongside the target, particularly the focus on electrification and energy efficiency. However these must only be a downpayment on the much bigger effort required.

There is a significant amount of detail in the government’s package and it is frankly staggering that just hours after the reports were released, the Coalition was quick to dismiss the research and once again become absorbed by whether Australia should ditch net zero by 2050. If they had been serious about climate action when they were in government, higher targets would have been more achievable for Australia.

This is why independents will so important in holding the government to account on strong climate action.

Over the coming days I'll be going through the research carefully to ensure that we work constructively to drive the action required to achieve the top end of the target.

As was made clear in the government’s National Climate Risk Assessment – climate change will affect all of us, so community feedback is absolutely critical.

If you have any thoughts, questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or come chat to me at one of our community events.

I really want to hear what you think.

Warm regards,

Allegra Spender MP