‘Fatwa on two words’: Sussan Ley dumps net zero target, Albanese calls it ‘clown show’
Liberal leader has maked a shock climate announcement as party remains divided. Now the PM warns of international consequences.
Liberal leader Sussan Ley has formally dumped her party’s support for net zero, defying the Prime Minister’s warning that the Coalition has descended into a “clown show” on climate change.
Speaking in Canberra, flanked by MPs who remain divided over the net zero target, Ms Ley said the policy would retain support for the Paris agreement to reduce net emissions but dump the target.
“The Liberal Party will remove a net zero target from our policy,’’ she said.
“And if elected, we will remove the 43 per cent 2030 target and its net zero by 2050 target from the Climate Change Act.
“We remain committed to the Paris Agreement and to doing our fair share to reduce emissions. But we will do it in a way that protects households and budgets and keeps our economy strong.
“Affordable energy must come first,’’ she added.
Anthony Albanese earlier declared the Coalition’s plans to dump net zero a “clown show” that will harm Australia’s relationships in Asia and the Pacific amid rising Chinese influence.
The Prime Minister has stressed the importance of climate change and emissions targets in building relationships with regional neighbours as the debate drags on inside the Coalition.
As expected, on Thursday the Liberal Party’s shadow cabinet formally resolved to dump the 2050 net zero target but will remain open to the concept as a nice idea to placate moderates.
This is despite a briefing by Liberal Party’s director Andrew Hirst on importance of issue to voters in this week’s partyroom.
Liberal leader Sussan Ley has asked Dan Tehan, Anne Ruston and Jonno Duniam to work with The Nationals over the next 48-72 hours to land a joint Coalition position.
All four will stand up at around 2:15pm on the Liberal Party’s direction for affordable and lower emissions.
The decision came after a string of high-profile net zero opponents - including leadership aspirants Angus Taylor and Andrew Hastie - marched into the Liberal Party room on Wednesday in a show of force.
Mr Albanese slammed the move.
“It was a show of division, that’s what it was. These were people who many of whom have either challenged or resigned from the front bench,” Mr Albanese said.
“You had Angus Taylor walking with his counterparts. This was a sign of opposition to Sussan Ley’s leadership, and it was a rather extraordinary moment
“And the pictures were very deliberate, for people to gather beforehand – in formation – in order to send that message, and that message was surely received...the clown show they have become.”
Mr Albanese suggested that net zero was as much about regional relationships as climate change.
“I think people will certainly look at the Liberal Party policy as quite contradictory to what our Pacific neighbors want and what Indonesia and our ASEAN neighbors are calling for as well. But the Australian government’s position is very clear,” the Prime Minister said.
“I have no doubt the coalition approach would hurt Australians. It would lead to less investment, less reliability, less jobs, less economic growth. It would also damage our relationships in the region, including relationships on security.
“The work we’ve done with our ASEAN neighbors – all of that will be undermined.
“There is a view that Australia doesn’t believe in what (ASEAN neighbours) regard very much as an existential challenge, a challenge for their environment, but also a challenge, of course, for their economy as we go forward.”
Meanwhile, Liberal frontbencher Melissa McIntosh has suggested new coal-fired power stations may be part of the Liberals’ new energy policy.
“I think we should be looking at (new coal), yes, we should be looking at all of the options and have a technology agnostic approach,” Ms McIntosh said.
Liberal Senator Dave Sharma, a net zero supporter on the losing side of the debate, said he believes the party will stay committed to the Paris Agreement.
He confirmed he wanted to be “a team player” and would not quit the frontbench.
“I don’t intend to do that. That’s not the sort of person I am,” Mr Sharma told Sky News.
Taxpayers face a bill of over $100,000 to fly dozens of Liberal MPs to Canberra for another political ding dong over net zero and 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, Liberal MPs were instead ordered to pack their suitcases and their credit cards for an out of session trip.
Liberal leader Sussan Ley is expected to walk away from Australia’s legally mandated plan to reach “net zero” by 2050 at the talks that kick off on Wednesday morning.
But she is under pressure from moderate MPs to retain the goal of net zero as a future aspiration, even if the timeline for action is binned by conservatives.
Leading the charge to retain net zero in some form is 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 for opposition leader, Sussan Ley.
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.
