‘We would have lost the election’: Barnaby Joyce on net zero deal
Barnaby Joyce has revealed what would have happened if the Nationals had not signed up to the net-zero 2050 deal.
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If the Nationals had not backed a net-zero policy the Coalition Government would have split and lost the next election, according to Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.
Mr Joyce, defending his party’s decision to support the policy, said Prime Minister Scott Morrison had made it clear his Government was going to the COP26 climate summit with the agreement whether the Nationals supported it or not.
“All the negotiations we did would have been left out and it would have been much worse,” he told Sky News.
“There would have been a cabinet decision which a number of our cabinet ministers would have had a different position, they would have had to resign … we would have gone to an election and we would have lost.
“That was the alternative, which one do you think is better.”
Mr Joyce said one of the National party’s demands had been to ensure emissions of coal and other exports are not counted towards Australia’s emission’s total.
“It is like accounting for your carbon emissions from coal mining in Australia, then counting it for them again, as they burn it in China. It’s basically double counting,” he said.
But it is understood that this was not part of the plan that was proposed.
He also indicated that there will be a “substantial” fund to help new businesses start up in regional areas hit as global demand for coal and other high-emission exports start to decline.
But Mr Joyce would not reveal further details on how it would work, saying it was still before cabinet.
“We’re not going to dig the mine or build the plant, that’s for private enterprise, but we’re going to do the things that sit beside it that are going to help that industry grow,” he said.
Meanwhile, Energy Minister Angus Taylor ruled out taking a more ambitious 2030 emissions reduction target to the next election.
“We went to the last election and we said to the Australian people we had a 26-28% target …
the Australian people put us back into government for another term. Now, we need to keep faith with our commitments,” he said.
Opposition energy spokesman Chris Bowen said Mr Taylor’s plan was “to do not very much by 2030” and leave it to future governments to do the rest.
Originally published as ‘We would have lost the election’: Barnaby Joyce on net zero deal
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