David Littleproud: Net zero is leading us to ruin but there is a better way

All Australians are experiencing the cost and pain of Anthony Albanese’s attempt to achieve net zero, writes David Littleproud.

The Nationals’ decision to abandon net zero and fight for a cheaper, better and fairer way was a decision for the Australian people.

All Australians are experiencing the cost and pain of Anthony Albanese’s attempt to achieve net zero. Despite being mission impossible, we are feeling the impact of this pipeline dream through our wallets.

Labor said net zero would lead to cheaper energy bills, but the opposite has occurred.

Having received a crucial Page Research Centre report within the past few days, our partyroom made a unanimous decision to abandon Labor’s net zero plan. We will do our fair share to reduce global emissions, but not more than the rest of the world.

Families are paying too much and jobs are being lost. Our environment is suffering, with forests and farmland being destroyed. We need to bring common sense back to solving climate change.

Labor said net zero would lead to cheaper energy bills, but the opposite has occurred. Picture: David Caird

Our plan is cheaper because we will lower energy prices first, use all of our resources and abandon the commitment to net zero. All carbon taxes and restrictions should be removed. Our plan is better because we will protect our local environment through local community action such as waterway protection, land restoration and soil carbon. We will ensure that our national security is not compromised.

Our plan is fairer because we will reduce emissions in line with comparable nations, not ahead of them. We will ensure that costs are distributed fairly, not concentrated on regional Australia. Our approach will increase investment in cheaper electricity by broadening the Capacity Investment Scheme to include all energy technologies and remove the moratorium on nuclear energy. It is now important to work constructively with the Liberal Party.

I’ve made it very clear to Opposition Leader Sussan Ley that we’ll respect the time it will take for the Liberal Party to get to a position then form a committee to work through where our similarities are and if there are any differences. We will calmly go to the next step and we’ll work through this in a methodical way.

We’re all feeling the impact of this pipeline dream through our wallets, says.David Littleproud.

But it’s important to remember that Australia cannot do all of this ourselves, because we’re only a bit over 1.1 per cent of total emissions. We can’t mitigate for the world.

What we can do is invest in adaptation. We’ll peg ourselves to the rest of the world, not streak ahead of them, but stick with them and make sure that at a future point, if technology is created that helps us accelerate at a greater point, then we’ll be there. I know Labor will say this announcement means the Nationals don’t believe in climate change. But it is a puerile argument to say unless you believe in the Prime Minister’s net zero, you don’t believe in climate change.

Net Zero Australia has said that it will be somewhere between $7 trillion and $9 trillion, or $250,000 for each Australian. Under Labor’s net zero, electricity prices are up by 39 per cent. Gas prices are up by 46 per cent. In the meantime, real wages have dropped back to 2011 levels and 7000 manufacturing jobs have been lost.

If we continue down Labor’s reckless path, Australians will only feel more pain. There are other ways that are cheaper, better and fairer.

David Littleproud is leader of the Nationals