As climate change emerges as a dominant issue in the 2019 federal election, the Greens have accused the Coalition of spending "bugger all" to fight what they call the nation's biggest challenge. In April 2019, Greens Leader Richard Di Natale claimed the Morrison government was spending "almost as much to keep Christmas Island open in the previous four weeks as they will spend in new money over the next four years on climate change." But Senator Di Natale's claim is overblown. The Greens leader has compared several months of detention costs with only part of the Coalition's new spending on climate change, allocated in the 2019 budget. And by focussing on "new money", Senator Di Natale ignores ongoing spending on climate change. In 2018-19, the Government budgeted $161 million for Christmas Island. This could be spent over not just four weeks but as many as 20 weeks. For its new "climate solutions package", the Coalition has budgeted an extra $261 million over the next four years. Of that, Senator Di Natale has only counted spending on the Climate Solutions Fund, worth $189 million. But experts told Fact Check that other parts of the Coalition's climate package could also reduce emissions, as could initiatives found in other parts of the budget.
Verdict: Overblown