Bandt v Bowen: what do they really think of each other?

The recent rhetoric ahead of the passage of Labor’s safeguard mechanism got pretty nasty, with the government slamming the Greens’ demands as immature and “irresponsible” and the Greens declaring the government “corrupt”, “ecocidal” and boasting a “weak” policy.

The mudslinging might have been mostly for show, but Crikey understands the Greens would’ve killed the legislation if Labor gave them nothing.

Publicly, both sides had their ferocious talking points. After February’s political donation disclosure showed some $241 million from big coal and gas went into Labor and the Coalition’s coffers, Greens Leader Adam Bandt declared “Labor’s climate plan was paid for by coal and gas”, and it’s been “repaid with free rein … to trash the climate”.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen returned fire via a Sky News interview, repeating the line that the Greens were “stopping any progress” to “make a point”, repeatedly referencing the infamous 2009 carbon pollution reduction scheme saga as an ominous example of “what can happen if the Parliament gets it wrong”.

The hostilities didn’t blow over after Labor acquiesced and gave the Greens several significant concessions (albeit falling short of their initial bid for no new oil or gas). In March, Tasmanian Greens Senator Nick McKim fired off an extraordinary spray on Twitter about the Greens’ negotiating position, slamming Labor as a “corrupt, ecocidal government of a petro-state”.

Fellow Tasmanian and Greens co-founder Bob Brown, who at 78 is still involved with campaigning, told Crikey last week the “frustration of that outcome [the safeguard mechanism concessions] is with every Green in the Parliament”, adding that the Greens had “tangled” with Bowen and seen the “power of the sellout” first hand.

But the vitriol thrown between Bandt and Bowen was necessary theatrics for both parties to send messages to their voter bases. The Greens had to appeal to a base that doesn’t want to see any kind of political compromise, and Labor is perpetually balancing voter appetite for climate action against its careful rapport with the fossil fuel industry. 

The vicious soundbites weren’t exactly without substance. Labor would’ve been able to dine out on the Greens voting nay with Liberal Leader Peter Dutton all the way through to the next federal election, and many Greens — like McKim — were genuinely irate at the fact that the safeguard mechanism, while a step forwards for Australia, fell woefully short of the climate action the UN and International Energy Agency is urging the world to take.

But Crikey understands that behind the scenes it was good faith politics that kept relations civil in the safeguard negotiations. Having spent a decade working together in the wilderness of opposition to unpick Liberal draft legislation, the two parties have a far more genial working relationship than they make out. 

On the face of it, the Greens faced an uphill battle to convince Labor right faction member Bowen to be more strident on climate action. He is a newcomer to the portfolio after Anthony Albanese replaced longtime climate spokesperson Mark Butler in 2021. Plus Bowen is no pushover — he’s the most senior member of the most powerful faction in the country.

Counterintuitively, however, working with right-leaning Bowen on the concessions was more straightforward than it may have been with Butler — less territoriality. While Labor was pinching Liberal seats like Bennelong, Chrisholm and Boothby in the 2022 federal election, the Greens snatched Griffith from Labor rising star Terri Butler by a mighty 11.9% swing. It was a major blow for members of the Labor left, leaving a bitter Green taste in their mouths on an otherwise victorious evening.

But it was a respectful and constructive relationship between the leaders that carried the negotiations. Bowen and Bandt, despite their public acrimony, like and respect each other. Bowen strikes many on the inside as someone who genuinely wants to push the Labor Party further on its climate ambitions, and it doesn’t hurt that he has the ear of PM Albanese.

None of that is to say the safeguard mechanism concessions came easy from Bowen’s camp — the gruelling negotiations stretched on for months. It’s also understood the Greens were fully prepared to vote the climate policy down in the Senate if Bowen pulled a Rudd and said “take it or leave it”.

Ultimately though, some members of the Greens were surprised by the depth of concessions they were able to secure from Bowen. Particularly considering he heralds from a government that Bandt has derided as “more afraid” of the coal and gas corporations than the climate collapse itself.

Should the Greens have pushed harder? Let us know by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.