Sussan Ley’s net zero position is clear – it’s whatever keeps her in the job | Samantha Maiden
There seems to be just one net zero issue the Liberals agree on – flying to Canberra for that meeting was a giant waste of time, writes Samantha Maiden.
Emerging from the agonising five-hour Liberal Party talkfest on net zero in Canberra, one moderate Liberal MP declared the outcome was “too silly for words” and a “poison pill”.
“Overall, the room is split. It’s probably a couple more in favor of dumping net zero,’’ the MP said.
That assessment proved a heroic underestimate of the number of Liberal MPs who want to dump net zero.
The truth is a clear majority want it dead.
Senior figures against the net zero target included Ted O’Brien, Angus Taylor, James McGrath, Alex Hawke, James Paterson and Andrew Hastie.
Nevertheless, the prospect of sticking with Paris but ditching net zero does seem counterintuitive.
That’s because of the 2015 Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change, has as its main goal limiting global warming to well below a rise of 2C, preferably compared to pre-industrial levels, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Net zero by 2050 is how you get there.
“Because how can you be in the Paris Agreement but be opposed to net zero? It makes absolutely no sense,’’ one Liberal MP said.
Whether it makes sense or not, the outcome is now determined.
A clear majority of Liberal MPs – 28 – backed dumping net zero. Around 17 MPs are calling for the commitment to be retained.
Liberal Leader Susssan Ley tried to adopt the John Howard approach of not declaring a position.
Her position appears to be well understood. She will back the option that keeps the Coalition and her leadership intact.
What many of the MPs appear to agree on is that the inexplicable decision to fly all the MPs back to Canberra was a giant waste of time.
Most of the MPs’ positions were known as a result of the Conga line of interviews conducted in recent weeks.
Regardless, taxpayers now face a bill of more than $100,000 to fly dozens of Liberal MPs to Canberra for another political ding dong over climate change.
Defying calls from Liberal MPs including South Australia’s Tony Pasin to skip the expense and have the debate while MPs were already in town for a parliamentary sitting, they were instead ordered to pack their suitcases for an out of session trip.
The Liberal Party’s decision to hold another factional warfare session on climate change is now estimated to cost taxpayers at least $136,993.
That figure includes one night of travel allowance for all of the 70 MPs at a cost of $22,540.
Chauffeur-driven cars could cost up to $20,000, although some MPs were expected to self-drive from NSW and Victoria.
Flights for parliamentarians are the biggest expense, at an estimated cost of $93,453 for all of the MPs and senators to get to Canberra for the net zero fight.
The figures are conservative because the estimate doesn’t include staff which could double the cost to $200,000 plus.
Leading the charge to retain net zero in some form was Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg, who says any “fatwa” waged against the words “net zero” is “ridiculous”.
Strictly speaking, a fatwa against someone is a legal or religious ruling from a qualified Islamic scholar or authority that offers an opinion on a matter concerning that individual, which can sometimes include a call for a death sentence and can be followed by violent action.
While nobody is expecting anything to go quite that far, Andrew Bragg’s ultimatum is piling on the pressure on the opposition leader.
The Liberal shadow ministry will meet on Thursday to ratify a position and a joint party room meeting has been scheduled for Sunday to endorse a joint position with the Nationals.
Ms Ley and Nationals Leader David Littleproud will also oversee a process by which “three senior parliamentarians” from each of the parties will meet to discuss respective party positions.
The Nationals have already formally ticked off on a plan to dump net zero.
The moderates – who helped Ms Ley defeat Angus Taylor to win the leadership – are dirty about dumping net zero.
“You can’t have a fatwa on two words. This [net zero] is the international standard. I mean, trying to pretend you’re not going to say two words is absolutely ridiculous,” Mr Bragg said.
Ms Ley remains under pressure with claims the clock is ticking on her leadership.
While the majority of MPs insist there’s no real prospect of Ms Ley being rolled this year, there’s a growing expectation she could face a challenge from Mr Taylor or Andrew Hastie in the new year.
Ms Ley has insisted she would survive the “killing season’ of the last parliamentary sitting week of the year as the Liberal Party fights for relevance.
The question is whether she survives with a climate change policy that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
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