To the Editors at Jacobin:

Jeff Sparrow is totally wrong about my record on climate change as Australia’s prime minister. By his account, I was so “rattled” by the rise of Tony Abbott as opposition leader that I “abandoned” our planned emissions trading scheme in April 2010. None of this is true.

First, I was far from “rattled” by Abbott, who was widely viewed as unelectable. In my estimation, we were a united team, elected with a thumping majority less than three years earlier, leading our opponents 54-46 in the polls. In head-to-head polls, my advantage as the people’s preferred prime minister was even starker. Had our party maintained its unity, I have no doubt we would have wiped the floor with him at the 2010 election.