Joel Fitzgibbon quits Labor frontbench amid growing climate fight
Labor frontbencher Joel Fitzgibbon has quit the opposition shadow cabinet amid a growing fight over its future climate change and energy policies.
Mr Fitzgibbon told caucus on Tuesday morning he will sit on the backbench because he believes the party has alienated its blue-collar base by pushing for deeper cuts to carbon emissions without an appropriate transition.
The long-time regional MP, who has been highly critical of the left flank of the party's membership since last year’s election loss, told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age on Sunday that it would be electoral suicide to push for deeper cuts in carbon emissions.
Federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and colleagues have used US President-elect Joe Biden's win to heap pressure on the Morrison government, saying Australia was now "isolated on climate change".
But Mr Fitzgibbon said a new campaign from within the party for deeper cuts sooner would be "just a recipe for another election loss".
"I think Albo can win if he listens to Joel Fitzgibbon more," he told reporters.
Mr Fitzgibbon said he regretted not running for the party leadership after the 2019 election loss.
"I don't believe I would have won that contest, but I think a contest would have been good for the rank-and-file and the industrial wing of the party," he said.
"And it would have been an opportunity for me to develop a mandate for my determination to take the Labor Party back to its traditional roots."
Privately the resources and agriculture spokesman, who represents the NSW election of Hunter, has raised with his colleagues his fear the ALP is in permanent opposition.
"It would be a mistake to conclude that Joe Biden's narrow win, or indeed the Congressional results, are a green light for climate change policies that leave Labor’s traditional base behind," Mr Fitzgibbon said.
"It should, though, put pressure on Scott Morrison to embrace the 2050 net zero emissions target and to take more action."
Several Left faction sources told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald that Monday night's national caucus was "scathing" of Mr Fitzgibbon's weekend comments and annoyed that his constant interventions were damaging Labor's credibility on the issue.
Among those to heap criticism on Mr Fitzgibbon, sources said, were his shadow cabinet colleagues Tanya Plibersek and Linda Burney.
Several Right faction MPs have also been highly critical of him in recent weeks, including legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus who dubbed him the "idiot for Hunter" during a heated Victorian caucus meeting last month.
More to come
Rob Harris is the National Affairs Editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based at Parliament House in Canberra