Coalition credibility rests on rejecting Labor net-zero folly

Cost of living is the number one issue facing Australians. This should be the primary focus of the Coalition, and it starts with energy. Lower energy costs lead to both lower household energy bills and lower costs of production for everyday items, resulting in lower consumer prices.

To achieve this, major reform is required to create a free and competitive energy market, devoid of subsidies and favouritism where all technologies, including nuclear power, are allowed to compete. Only through this, not through biased models or electioneering promises, will the cheapest form of power ever be realised. The renewables experiment has failed and must be ended. If the Coalition doesn’t take up this challenge, it will go the same way as Australian industry and become extinct (“Hastie’s five-point net zero ultimatum for Ley”, 31/10).

Ron Hobba, Camberwell, Vic

Former Treasury assistant secretary David Pearl says what the Albanese Labor government fears, but will never admit; that the 2028 federal election could be a referendum on Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s management of the electricity grid.

And that is exactly what Labor would face if the Liberal Party decided to dump its support for net-zero emissions by 2050. Instead, Liberal leader Sussan Ley is under pressure by some in the party to water down support for, but not entirely reject, net zero (“Moderate tinkering won’t change fact net zero is a dud”, 30/10).

Labor’s wind, solar and batteries-led net-zero agenda is leaving a trail of economic and environmental destruction in its wake. Households, small businesses and our vital manufacturing industries are buckling under the weight of soaring energy costs, and reliability of supply is wavering. Productivity is at an all-time low, putting job security at risk.

Farming land is being trashed, Australia’s pristine wilderness is being rendered an industrial wasteland, and our standard of living has plummeted.

If the Liberal Party had the best interests of the nation at the centre of its deliberations on net zero, it would seize on Pearl’s advice: “If you want lower energy costs, more growth, higher living standards, you must reject net zero.” For the Liberal Party, and the Coalition more broadly, it gets down to this: you’re either for net zero or against it. What’s it to be?

Dale Ellis, Innisfail, Qld

Net zero is based on the belief that carbon dioxide emissions will cause catastrophic climate change. The debate should be about the science.

If it is found that carbon dioxide emissions have negligible impact, as many studies by scientists and geologists advise, then net zero needs to be quickly abandoned and power systems providing reliable low-cost energy built.

Charles Stanger, Manuka, ACT

Former PM Scott Morrison’s comment that “net zero at any cost on any rigid timetable is not policy, it’s just ideology” (“Morrison’s intervention over net-zero ideology”, 30/10) is sound advice to the embattled and divided Liberals. This net-zero ideology has engendered a stampede to renewable solutions at the expense of more viable options.

Gas and nuclear stand out as the more viable generating options. Gas would be a necessary intermediate backstop, but the government must give the green light to mining our plentiful gas resources for this to happen.

With a growing list of available options, including nuclear power, it will take time for research, planning and development of options best suited for our needs.

Cheap and reliable energy is the cornerstone to our future prosperity. Labor’s deeply flawed renewables plan is already failing this test.

Peter Clarke, Corinda, Qld

If you were an enemy and wanted to take over this country by stealth, you would cripple the country’s manufacturing industries by destroying baseload power supplies, bankrupt the population by forcing impossibly high electricity bills on them and see that the defence of the country was compromised by neglect. This is what is happening under the Labor Party government.

John Harding, Eastwood, NSW

If one’s aim was to make Australia an economic basket case, net zero would be the way to go.

Philip Temple, Larrakeyah, NT