Coalition to take its time on net-zero policy preference

The Coalition is bracing for an internal war on net-zero but Dan Tehan says he is in no rush to land on a policy outcome.

Opposition energy and emissions reduction spokesman Dan Tehan . Picture: Getty Images

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New opposition energy and emissions reduction spokesman Dan Tehan says he is in no rush to decide whether the Coalition will walk away from a net-zero by 2050 target, paving the way for a protracted internal debate on climate and energy policy amid a backbench push to pull out of Paris.

Mr Tehan said there could be a need for a bigger role for coal and gas over the next decade than what was being forecast by federal Labor, declaring that carbon-capture and storage was a key technology to bring down emissions.

The former minister in the Turnbull and Morrison governments said “There absolutely needed to be a conversation” about how nuclear energy generation could be encouraged, with the Coalition backing legalising the energy source but being unlikely to replicate Peter Dutton’s model of the commonwealth building and owning the assets.

“There is research and development occurring here in Australia in the nuclear area which, due to the absolutely ideologically driven and blinkered approach of Chris Bowen and the Labor Party, is likely to have to go to the US (to be) developed,” Mr Tehan told The Australian, in his first major interview since being unveiled as the Coalition’s energy spokesman.

With climate change and energy policy likely to become the biggest internal fight as the ­Coalition sets a new agenda, Mr Tehan said it was more important to get the policy offering right by the next election than send an immediate message to the electorate on net-zero.

After Sussan Ley refused to recommit to net-zero after being elected Liberal leader, moderate MPs were hopeful the Opposition Leader would quickly outline her support for remaining in Paris and recommitting to the target.

However, with shadow cabinet member Andrew Hastie among MPs talking down the need for a net-zero target, Mr Tehan said he would convene an internal process to discuss the policy while declaring “We’ve got time” to land on an outcome.

The process means the ­Coalition is unlikely to have a position on net-zero when Labor outlines a new 2035 target ahead of COP30 in Brazil in November, with the Albanese government bidding to hold next year’s UN ­climate conference.

Mr Tehan – whose title dropped the words “climate change” in favour of “emissions reduction” – said his immediate focus would be on demanding transparency from Labor on the economic impact of its coming 2035 target and its existing pledge to lower carbon emissions by 43 per cent of 2005 levels by 2030.

The Climate Change Authority is seeking public consultation on a 2035 target between 65 and 75 per cent, despite experts being sceptical that the government will meet its 2030 target.

Mr Tehan said there was no clarity as to why Labor retained its 2030 targets on emissions and renewables that it adopted from Reputex modelling ahead of the 2022 election, given Anthony Albanese distanced his government from that same modelling at the last election.

“Everything they are doing is based on a model they know is fundamentally flawed and they will not be transparent about economy-wide costs of their approach,” he said.

He identified the refusal of the government to outline the amount it was spending on subsidies to encourage large-scale renewable generation through a Capacity Investment Scheme as an example of a lack of transparency. Declaring Mr Bowen was “not up to the job” of being Climate Change and Energy Minister, Mr Tehan said Labor’s record was higher electricity prices and flatlining emissions reductions. While dumping net-zero by 2050 would raise doubts over whether a future Coalition government would remain in Paris, Mr Tehan said he didn’t “view it in that way at all”.

“I look at it in being absolutely clear and transparent about what is involved in reducing emissions to deal with climate change in a way that does not burden individuals, households, small business, with costs that basically means you put incredible hardship on to a lot of Australian people,” he told The Australian.

“What we need to do is, in my view, put a process in place which will enable us to look at this. All these things involve, collectively, bringing colleagues together.

“We’ve got time and we’ve got to take the time because (after) … an election defeat, especially a significant election defeat, which is what we suffered, the last thing you want to do is rush headlong back into an approach that clearly hasn’t been working.”

Coalition backbenchers in favour of dropping net-zero include Garth Hamilton, Barnaby Joyce, Llew O’Brien, Colin Boyce, Matt Canavan and Alex Antic.

With Donald Trump planning to pull the US out of Paris and Britain’s Conservative Party this year coming out against net-zero by 2050, Senator Canavan said the Coalition’s position at the election was out of line with other centre-right parties.

“If the Coalition continues to support net zero, we will be the only centre-right party in the ­English-speaking world to do so,” he said.

Senator Antic said “net zero is good for China and bad for Australia … Australia contributes just over 1 per cent to global carbon dioxide emissions, compared to roughly 12 per cent from the US and 32 per cent from China.

“It is illogical for Australia to burden itself in this manner. The UN’s net-zero agenda is undermining our energy sector and inflating the cost-of-living crisis.”

While The Australian has spoken to city-based Liberals who want Ms Ley to come out quickly in favour of net-zero by 2050, NSW moderate and former Mackellar MP Jason Falinski said he was comfortable with a protracted internal debate.

“The biggest problem we have is that people don’t think we are a movement for modern times, and the biggest symbol for this is our attitude to climate change,” he said. “I think it is important that we have those debates out.

“People come to it in the belief that we don’t really believe in action on climate change. So we have to build that credibility.”

Mr Tehan said he was offered the vexed portfolio by Ms Ley, after telling her he was willing to serve in any capacity. While he does not have a history in the energy portfolio, he noted he was brought into politically fraught portfolios in the former Coalition government.

“When we were having issues with education funding, I was asked to basically step in and resolve that in the lead-up to the 2019 election,” he said. “When China decided to impose trade restrictions on us ...I was asked to do trade, tourism and investment.”