Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee should use her trip to the UN climate conference in Glasgow to lobby the federal government for more ambitious action to limit climate change, Chief Minister Andrew Barr said.
Ms Lee will on Friday travel to the COP26 conference as part of a delegation of centre-right parliamentarians organised by Coalition for Conservation, an Australian conservative lobby group that advocates for climate action.
Mr Barr, who is also the Minister for Climate Action, said: "If the Canberra Liberals were serious about responsible climate action, then her paid trip is an opportunity to secure a more ambitious set of commitments from the Prime Minister. At the very least, this should equate to the aggregated emission targets of states and territories."
An ACT government spokeswoman confirmed Mr Barr had responded to Ms Lee's notification that she would travel to the conference.
Greens leader Shane Rattenbury said he hoped Ms Lee took a large notebook to the conference "because the Canberra Liberals have a yawning gap in their current response to climate change".
"Ms Lee has also said she will not be drawn into critiquing [Prime Minister] Scott Morrison's emissions reduction plan but it would be a shame and a waste of a plane ticket if Ms Lee returns to Canberra with no thoughts on the federal government's plan," Mr Rattenbury said.
"I know she will be given plenty of feedback on it from experts from around the world - former UN climate chief Christiana Figueres has already described Australia's commitments at Glasgow as 'appallingly irresponsible'."
Ms Lee on Monday told The Canberra Times she saw the conference as an opportunity to learn from world-leading experts on climate change and emissions reduction technology.
Mr Rattenbury said the conference was a good opportunity for Ms Lee, who had been the Canberra Liberals' spokesperson on climate action for five years, as her party did not have a climate policy at the last election.
"Disturbingly, in the past, we've heard Ms Lee sounding like a climate change sceptic, complaining about climate change alarmists and using the sceptic's trope of the climate has always changed. Hopefully COP will help her change this perspective," Mr Rattenbury said.
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Ms Lee told the Legislative Assembly in April 2019 it was unfortunate that too much discussion on climate is based on "fiction or misplaced ideology by extremists ranging from climate change alarmists to climate change deniers".
"In the history of the planet, climate has always been changing and we, in our very short time on earth in geological terms, need to be aware of what we experience and what we contribute to weather patterns and put that in context," Ms Lee said at the time.
Asked on Tuesday whether those comments still represented her view, Ms Lee said: "I think it's important in this discussion about climate change there are new emerging views and expertise and we need to always be mindful of that.
"The other aspect is, let's not forget, we are talking about global warming that is man-produced and that we need to take responsibility for and that's something that I'm very conscious of, and of course mindful of."
Ms Lee sidestepped a direct question of whether the Canberra Liberals would take a comprehensive climate action policy to the next ACT election, due in 2024.
"The Canberra Liberals' record, I think, speaks for itself when it comes to a strong commitment to preserving and conserving our local environment and taking serious and real action on climate change and reducing our emissions," she said.
"There is no doubt in my mind that I have the full backing of my party room to continue the work that we have already done to show our ongoing commitment to taking strong action on climate."
