Sussan Ley and Dan Tehan dump net zero following full shadow ministry meeting
The federal Liberal Party will go all in on lowering energy bills for households and businesses, leader Sussan Ley says, after the party officially scrapped a net zero climate target.
The federal Liberal Party will scrap a net zero climate target and go all in on lowering energy bills for households and businesses, Sussan Ley has confirmed, following days of public in-fighting over the policy.
Flanked by the Coalition’s energy spokesman Dan Tehan, and senior frontbenchers Anne Ruston and Jonno Duniam, the Opposition Leader said emissions under a Liberal government will be reduced year-on-year and Australia’s emissions reductions would be tied to OECD countries.
Boosting supply into the grid would also be “technology agnostic,” with Mr Tehan stating he was open to extending the life of coal assets.
However he said the cost of doing so could only be determined “when we get into government”.
Ms Ley said she could “100 per cent guarantee power bills would be lower under us,” however declined to offer a date, stating it is “2.5 years until the election”.
“Those energy bills will be much lower under us and on the eve of the election we may be able to give you further detail because I’m sure this government’s energy policy will have become an ever-increasing train wreck by then,” she said.
Earlier today, Ms Ley confirmed the Liberals would officially dump net zero as a policy but stay in the Paris Agreement and be open to a carbon-neutral future as a “welcome outcome”.
The shadow ministry has finalised the party’s position after a marathon five-hour meeting on Wednesday.
They agreed to remain in Paris, set interim climate targets for the government and maintain a watered down aspiration to net zero as a “welcome outcome”, without using taxes or government mechanisms.
The announcement came after Ms Ley convened a meeting of the full shadow ministry on Thursday morning where Mr Tehan was expected to hand down his submission.
This follows a marathon near five-hour party room meeting on Wednesday where more than half of the 49-person meeting advocated dumping net zero, including key members of Ms
Ley’s frontbench such as deputy leader Ted O’Brien and senior front benchers Michaelia Cash, Angus Taylor, Alex Hawke, Melissa McIntosh, James Paterson and Andrew Wallace.
Seventeen members — including Anne Ruston, Andrew Bragg, Dave Sharma and Tim Wilson — called for the party to continue the policy, with the remaining four Liberals not expressing a clear position.
Ms Ley’s leadership has been destabilised following days of infighting, prompted after the Nationals confirmed they would ditch the policy.
In a show of force, a group of more than a dozen right faction members entered Wednesday’s party room together, with leader aspirants Angus Taylor and Andrew Hastie walking in side-by-side.
The decision to dump net zero has created deep animosity for the moderate Liberals, who were key to installing Ms Ley as party leader.
A senior moderate joked that “the only thing that could have made the right’s performance today more symbolic would’ve been a lettuce under someone’s arm” – in a reference to a livestream of an iceberg lettuce run by a British newspaper in the dying days of former Prime Minister Liz Truss’ leadership.
Ms Ley and Mr Tehan are expected to speak to media on Thursday, following the shadow ministry meeting.
Liberal sources say the main focus of the three-hour meeting was on how the party would sell the policy.
Ms Ley is expected to meet with Nationals Leader David Littleproud alongside senior shadow ministers Dan Tehan, Anne Ruston and Jonno Duniam, plus three senior Nationals members, where they will negotiate a Coalition position.
The outcome will be presented to a full Coalition party room on Sunday.
Thursday’s announcement has been welcomed as a victory for the backbench and the right flank of the party.
One MP said it was now the “moderates” turn to find themselves with a view that’s different from the party”.
“That’s how parties work,” they said.
“The leadership have been given a great opportunity by the backbench, they’ve been given a point of differentiation, and a policy setting that targets the government’s weakness.
“There’s a great opportunity for leadership right now and we hope they take it fully.”
However some moderate members have expressed anger over the process, stating they feel “abandoned” by the leader.
Another moderate noted that it was a “compromise” but welcomed that the party would remain in the Paris Agreement, and the requirement for Australia to submit Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Senior members from the Nationals and the Liberals are expected to negotiate a Coalition position which will be put to a joint party room meeting on Sunday.
REACTION
Nationals leader David Littleproud
Mr Littleproud welcomed the Liberal Party’s decision, saying he had “great hope that in the coming days, we’ll sit down constructively with them to work through the pathway that they’ve articulated”.
“This is one of the biggest policy decisions the Liberal party has got to make and they’ve done it with great maturity, with great leadership,” he said.
He said the debate “now needs to move to economics and about what plan is better and is fairer for the Australian people”.
Over the next couple of days, Mr Tehan, Mr Duniam and Ms Ruston will meet with Matt Canavan, Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald from the Nationals Party to finalise a Coalition position to be put to a joint party room on Sunday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
Mr Albanese said the images of Mr Taylor and Mr Hastie flanked by the right faction were a “show of division,” noting many members had “either challenged or resigned from the frontbench”.
He lashed the Coalition for becoming a “clown show” and said it was “a sign for the Australian people of how divided they are”.
“This was a sign of opposition to Ley’s leadership and it was a rather extraordinary moment and the pictures were very deliberate, for people to gather beforehand, (and) in formation, in order to send that message,” he said.
Teal independent Sophie Scamps
Seizing on the net zero backdown, Ms Scamps accused the Liberals of allowing themselves to be “led around by the nose by the Nationals” and the fossil fuel industry.
“The Liberal Party of yesteryear is dead,” the Mackellar MP said.
“Their net zero backdown shows they are a party without conviction, who no longer know what they stand for or understand who they represent.
“For three decades now, the Liberal Party has not only failed to show leadership on the defining issue of our time but have purposefully obstructed action — which is why the clean energy transition is now so urgent.
“The modern-day Liberal Party is pusillanimous, duplicitous and lacking vision.”
She said the Liberals had failed to lead on “the defining and most pressing issue of our era.”
She said dumping net zero signalled the “death knell of the Liberal Party”.
Originally published as Sussan Ley and Dan Tehan dump net zero following full shadow ministry meeting
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