Why Tony Abbott's climate 'strategy' won't neutralise the environmental argument

Most of the Coalition's planned emission cuts to meet its new 2030 target come from yet to be detailed measures - any serious assessment is impossible in this policy void

Tony Abbott's climate "strategy" - repeated sagely in many columns since Tuesday - is to "neutralise" the "environmental" argument with his new 26% greenhouse target and then attack Labor's policy on economic grounds. This argument is several different kinds of stupid.

First the target can only "neutralise" the environmental argument if voters are silly enough to accept two things. One, that Australia has no obligation to do its fair share of the job of limiting global warming to 2 degrees. (The target is sort of in the ball-park of other developed nations' targets, but it doesn't represent a fair share.) And, two, that they take on trust that the Coalition's "surprise box" of yet-to-be-announced climate policy (see graphic below) is capable of meeting the target, and delivering the environmental benefit. (Using a range of policies is probably quite sensible, but the only announced policy is the emissions reduction fund - all the others are not yet detailed, to the deep consternation of business leaders, who are calling out the policy void.)