The WA Greens say strengthening the government’s climate change legislation will be a top priority after they seize the balance of power in the upper house.
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00:00This is Western Australia's Legislative Council, also known as the Upper House or the House
00:07of Review, but there hasn't been a whole lot of review going on here the past four years
00:12because this place has been dominated by Labor.
00:15With a majority in both Houses of Parliament, the government was able to push legislation
00:19through this place with limited scrutiny.
00:22It would be fair to say the last four years in the Western Parliament, the Upper House
00:26really has been a rubber stamp where no amendments were accepted from the floor of the Parliament.
00:31It's effectively been whatever Labor wants, it gets.
00:34But that's all about to change.
00:37This is what the Legislative Council looks like at the moment.
00:40Labor has 20 of the 36 seats, the Liberals have 7, there are a couple of Nationals, one
00:46Green and a few Independents.
00:48This is what it's projected to look like after Saturday's election.
00:52Labor has 16 seats, the Liberals have 11, there are a couple of Nationals, four Greens
00:58and one each to the Legalised Cannabis Party, the Australian Christians and One Nation.
01:04We can expect more debate around legislation this time around.
01:06We're going to expect negotiation around different bills that they want to pass.
01:11And we're going to expect the Greens to properly insert other demands in return for their support.
01:18In order to pass legislation in its third term, the Government will need the support
01:22of either the Liberals or the Greens.
01:24Already, the Greens are pushing to strengthen the Climate Change Bill that was shelved last year.
01:30We were promised climate legislation in the last Parliament, it never came on for debate.
01:35So I think it's a really good opportunity in this Parliament to bring back the climate
01:38legislation, but much better legislation than they have.
01:41A legislation that does have a 2030 target.
01:43I think with at least 16 Labor members and four Greens, we're going to see an Upper House
01:47where the Labor Party is beholden to the Greens to deliver whatever outcome that they want.
01:52The new Upper House won't be sworn in until May.