Greens senator Nick McKim says climate groups are too afraid to push for change against ‘ecocidal’ government

A Greens senator has urged Australia's climate and environment movement to "collectively get its shit together" and adopt a model for bringing about rapid change that does not involve "sitting in Labor ministers' offices having cups of tea".

It follows an at times fraught debate among conservationists and other activists over how to respond to Labor's proposed changes to the safeguard mechanism, a climate policy that passed parliament on Thursday after deal with the Greens and some independents.

The Tasmanian Greens senator Nick McKim said the climate and environment movement was not homogeneous, and there were "honourable exceptions" within it, but accused some groups of being too interested in "access to government and perceived influence".

He said the Greens had won a deal on the safeguard mechanism that meant Australia's emissions would be significantly less than they otherwise would have been, but Labor's negotiating position refusing not to support new coal and gas projects had been "ecocidal and psychopathic" and his party had been undermined by groups that had called for the legislation to be passed while negotiations were still going.

"The environment and climate movement needs to collectively get its shit together. There is a desperate need for a new model of change and the clock is ticking loudly," he said. "The movement needs to have a genuine discussion about how it can help bring about the change we need in the timeframe we need it."

McKim said some green groups were afraid to criticise the government "in case they lose access or suffer brand damage". He singled out the Australian Conservation Foundation, which he said had "pulled the rug out from under us at a critical stage" by calling on MPs to "strengthen and pass" the safeguard legislation and then keep working to stop new coal and gas in this term of parliament.

He said the idea within the movement that Labor could be changed from within was "1980s thinking", dating back to before the Greens were a third political force, and would not shift the dial quickly enough in "the critical decade for climate and nature".

"Sitting in Labor ministers' offices having cups of tea and moving commas around is a model for change that is demonstrably failing," he said. "Some groups have had this access for decades and haven't even stopped Labor from taking donations from fossil fuel corporations, let alone convinced it to take real climate action."

McKim's comments, some of which were first aired in a Twitter thread, reflect differences within the Greens and conservation movement about the best way to bring on transformational change after a near decade without significant climate policy under the former Coalition government.

A version of that argument played out in the Greens party room as it debated whether to back a deal with the government on the safeguard mechanism. The former Greens leader Bob Brown last week returned his ACF life membership in protest over its call for the scheme to be strengthened and passed.

McKim said "the unions back in Labor, big business backs in the Liberals, but significant parts of the environment movement don't back in the Greens".

Responding on Thursday night, ACF acting chief executive, Paul Sinclair, said the "decade of climate wars" had left Australia bereft of national climate policy to cut pollution that was fuelling disasters including bushfires and floods, and the foundation congratulated parliamentarians who had worked together to reach a deal on the safeguard mechanism. He said the new version was much stronger than it had been, but it was "just a start".

"There remains a huge task in front of us to slash our pollution here at home and what we export through coal and gas," Sinclair said. "If we're going to get more action to solve our nature and climate crises then cooperation and negotiation between parliamentarians has got to happen more often."

He said the group was focused on ensuring national environment laws were strengthened, winning a court case to stop Woodside's Scarborough gas development in Western Australia and fighting for coal and gas to be replaced with renewable energy exports. "Our staff and community are dedicated to getting strong outcomes and I'm proud of the work we do," Sinclair said.

The revamped safeguard mechanism requires major industrial polluters to collectively reduce emissions by about 30% by 2030, either directly or by buying contentious carbon offsets. The Labor-Greens deal added a legislated "cap" on absolute emissions from across all major industrial facilities so the total must come down and not just rely on offsets. It also included a requirement that gas fields for export developments have to offset all direct CO2 emissions, adding costs that could constrain some developments.

Labor's other climate promises include a $20bn fund for major electricity grid transmission links to help reach 82% renewable energy on the east coast by 2030, the creation of offshore wind energy zones and an upcoming policy promised to drive uptake of electric vehicles. It has a target of cutting national pollution to 43% below 2005 levels by 2030 - up from the Coalition's minimum 26%, but less than what scientists say is necessary.

The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said on Thursday the changes to the safeguard were a "landmark reform" that had delivered on a promise to reverse nearly a decade of inaction on climate change under the Coalition. "Today is an historic day for the country to ensure our economy can take advantage of the opportunities of decarbonisation and meet our ambitious climate targets," he said.

The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, said the debate over the safeguard showed that Labor wanted more coal and gas, but Greens could stop new developments when in the balance of power. He said his party would "continue to need a strong climate movement working with us to stop the rest".