ACT Independent Senate candidate Kim Rubenstein has called for a landmark Climate Compact to break the deadlock that has paralysed Australia’s response to climate change for two decades.

Professor Rubenstein wants the next Federal Government to convene, in its first months of office, a Climate Compact where stakeholders would chart a strategy to at least halve emissions by 2030, and desirably cut much deeper.

It would negotiate a strategy to deliver Australia’s fair contribution to holding global warming at 1.5℃, and aim to achieve a 50 per cent reduction on 2005 emissions by 2030.

“We have little time in which to catch up on two lost decades,” Professor Rubenstein said. “It’s now or never. We need to settle the agenda and see policies enacted in the 2023–24 Budget.”

She pointed to the 1983 Prices and Incomes Accord as demonstrating the power of negotiated settlements to open the way for sweeping economic reform.

“The Accord ushered in the modern economy we know today,” Professor Rubenstein said. “We now need a Climate Compact to deliver the decarbonised economy that will help avert catastrophic global warming and set us on the path to a just, sustainable, and prosperous future.

“Canberrans and people right across Australia are crying out for urgent action on climate change. The major parties are locked in stalemate as we endure the devastating effects of global warming, most recently the floods in NSW and Queensland, and, two years ago, the Black Summer fires.”

Industry, unions, and the community were impatient for action, Professor Rubenstein said.

She believes the states, territories, and local governments share the concern of business for urgent national co-ordination of climate action that could be achieved through a Climate Compact.

Modelling by the Business Council of Australia showed that halving emissions by 2030 was within reach for Australia – consistent with IPCC advice that every sector can at least halve emissions by 2030.

“We have the choice, and it is an urgent one: unite and prosper in the post-carbon world, or fracture and perish as we extract every last bit of our fossil reserves,” Professor Rubenstein said.

“We know what needs to be done. What is missing is the unifying strategy with all players locked in. There is no excuse for delay.”