Malcolm Turnbull accuses resources minister Keith Pitt of living in ‘coal-hugging bubble’

Former prime minister tells Q+A climate change has become matter of identity politics for rightwing politicians

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has clashed with a former member of his ministry, Keith Pitt, accusing the resources and water minister of living in a coal-hugging bubble" in a heated episode of ABC's Q+A.

As the audience was filing into the Q+A studio, US president Joe Biden announced the United States would cut its emissions by at least 50% by 2030. While the world appears to be moving ahead on climate change, the former Liberal prime minister said climate change in Australia, in particular, had become stuck as an issue of identity politics for rightwing politics, the Murdoch media and the fossil fuel lobby.