There’s a kind of hypocrisy that has become so normal in Australian politics it almost slips past unnoticed. Governments say the right things about becoming a ‘renewable energy superpower’ and committing to net zero. But they keep approving new coal and gas projects as if the laws of physics don’t apply to Australia.

South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas this week called for Santos’ polluting Narrabri gas project to be fast-tracked, saying: “The eco-purists that fill Instagram with screeds demanding an end to gas production should be careful what they wish for. And for the rest of us: are we going to let our energy policy be determined by the socials, or the science?”

It was a cheap shot, designed to blow up on social media, but Malinauskas wasn’t the only politician doing free PR for the fossil fuel industry this week, US President Donald Trump told the United Nations he had issued a standing order in the White House. “Never use the word ‘coal.’ Only use the words ‘clean, beautiful coal.’”

Energy policy should be determined by the science and the science is crystal clear. The International Energy Agency has said there can be no new fossil fuel projects if we are serious about avoiding dangerous climate change. None. Yet Australian governments keep telling us we can have it both ways: endless new gas fields and climate action. It’s a dangerous lie. And a costly one.

The delayed National Climate Risk Assessment report painted a dire picture of what’s in store for us if we ignore the science: “Cascading, it will get worse over time. Compounding, each impact of climate change will make another impact worse. And concurrent, communities will suffer the impacts of climate change in different ways at the same time and we’ll have a lot to manage.”

Malinauskas mocked climate advocates as “eco-purists.” But tell that to the ACT, which has been sourcing 100% of its electricity from renewable energy since 2020. The ACT gas supply network will switch off for good in 2045 and new Canberra homes and businesses are all electric, with no gas connections allowed in new developments. Not only has the ACT’s 100% renewable energy scheme dramatically reduced electricity emissions, but it also protects ACT consumers from high electricity prices. Whenever wholesale electricity prices are high, the cost of the scheme goes negative, acting as an effective hedge against electricity price spikes, like the one caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine. Meanwhile states that rely on fossil fuels for electricity face spiralling gas prices and energy insecurity precisely because of their dependence on expensive and volatile coal and gas.

Labor’s 2035 target—62–70% emissions reduction—is consistent with well over 2 degrees of global heating, far beyond what science tells us is safe. And those targets only apply to a fraction of Australia’s carbon footprint. They ignore the vast majority of emissions that come from the coal and gas Australia exports overseas.

This is the core contradiction. On the one hand, Labor warns about the devastating impacts of the climate crisis. On the other hand, it plans to fuel that crisis with endless coal and gas exports.

Since its election in 2022, the Albanese Government has approved dozens of new fossil fuel projects, including a 45-year extension Woodside’s giant North West Shelf project, one of the biggest sources of emissions in the country.

Every new approval locks in decades of pollution. Every new approval makes Australia’s climate targets harder to meet. And every new approval tells the world we’re not serious about our commitments.

At the same time Labor talks about cutting emissions, it’s spending billions propping up the very industries driving the crisis. In 2024–25, Australia Institute research shows Australian governments handed out $14.9 billion in subsidies and tax breaks to fossil fuel producers and major users—a 3% increase on the year before.

Meanwhile, communities on the frontline of floods, bushfires, and heatwaves are told the budget is too tight to fund recovery properly.

Politicians love to sell gas as a “transition fuel.” But gas is a greenhouse gas. It’s mostly methane, which is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term. Methane leaks from gas projects are turbo-charging global heating, like the 20-year methane leak at Santos’ Darwin LNG export facility, which leaked documents reveal is releasing up to 184 kilograms of methane per hour, every hour, every day. The gas companies and the regulator hid the leak from the public. Santos has no plans to fix it. I guess the South Australian Premier forgot to mention that in his snarky speech.

New gas is unnecessary. Australia Institute research shows the country tripled gas production in a decade. And gas isn’t cheap, around 80% of our gas is used for exports and it tripled wholesale gas prices and doubled electricity prices. New gas projects just mean more gas is exported and result in net-zero additional gas for Australians, unless we cut exports.

Households have been hammered by sky-high gas prices, proving that more supply doesn’t guarantee affordability. What it does guarantee are massive profits for gas giants that pay next to no tax or royalties in Australia.

If Labor wants to be taken seriously on climate, it has to stop approving new fossil fuel projects. Full stop. That doesn’t mean shutting off the gas tomorrow. But it does mean no new approvals. Every tonne of carbon counts. Every new project makes the task harder, not easier.

Climate change is the defining challenge of our time. Australia can be a clean energy superpower. But every new coal and gas project undermines that vision. Labor can’t keep straddling the fence, claiming climate leadership while approving new coal and gas. The science won’t allow it. The economics won’t allow it. And increasingly, Australians won’t allow it either.

Setting climate targets without stopping new fossil fuels is meaningless. It’s climate hypocrisy dressed up as pragmatism.

This article was published in The Canberra Times.