Dumping net zero has partyroom support: Lib MPs

A dramatic shift in Liberal Party sentiment has left the party’s net zero policy hanging by a thread, with several frontbenchers considering resignation if the policy is abandoned.

There is still hope among the moderates that the Opposition Leader, Sussan Ley, above, and swing MPs can be persuaded to back net zero. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Conservative and moderate Liberals say there is majority partyroom support for dumping net zero, with the views of MPs dramatically shifting over the past month on the back of the rise of One Nation’s polling numbers and the frontrunning of the Nationals.

Some Liberal MPs and strategists say about 60 per cent of the partyroom are in favour of rejecting any aspiration to reach net zero, while several moderates have conceded there is a slim majority support for junking the two words from the party’s policy platform.

But other moderate MPs are refusing to concede the war to retain net zero has been lost, arguing the situation was finely balanced and the numbers were closer to 50-50.

Moderate MPs also say there will be no vote in the partyroom meeting on Wednesday, with the decision to be ultimately made by Sussan Ley in a meeting of shadow Liberal ministers on Thursday.

Senior Liberals say there was easily majority support for retaining net zero just a fortnight ago, with one source saying backing for a version of the target was as high as 70 per cent.

Part of the shift in sentiment was an aim to keep the Coalition united after the Nationals came out against net zero, while there is also concern about One Nation targeting right-wing voters and the global slowdown on climate action.

Hours after the Nationals dumped net zero last weekend, retaining the target lost the support of the Liberal leadership group with top conservatives James Paterson and Angus Taylor calling for it to be dumped, along with powerbrokers Alex Hawke and James McGrath.

There is still hope among the moderates that the Opposition Leader and swing MPs can be persuaded to back net zero, amid a fierce rearguard campaign focused on the need to win more urban seats where climate change is a major issue.

Leading moderate Andrew Bragg has threatened to quit the frontbench if net zero is dumped, while this is not being ruled out by Tim Wilson, Maria Kovacic and Paul Scarr.

With Liberal sources saying it was likely Mr Wilson would stand aside if net zero was dumped, the Goldstein MP said he would “have more to say in the coming days”.

Opposition education spokesman Julian Leeser and assistant Treasury spokesman Dave Sharma are not planning on quitting the frontbench if net zero is dumped, despite both being supporters of the target.

Senator Scarr, the opposition immigration spokesman, said the Coalition staying in Paris meant it would support reaching net zero “in the longer term”.

“It doesn’t make sense to talk about the Paris climate change accord and then say we don’t have an aspiration to go towards net zero,” he told the ABC.

“I don’t see that as compatible.”

Conservatives are opposed to the Coalition proposing any aspiration to net zero under the Paris accord, rejecting an argument from moderates that it was required under the international agreement.

Senator Kovacic said the “obsession with the two words is a real distraction”.

“Those that want to remove the words at any cost are focused on the ideology of that, rather than what we are going to do about the (electricity) grid and the other problems that we’ve got,” she told Sky News.

The NSW senator said net zero was popular in key Sydney seats the Liberals needed to win, including Bradfield, Bennelong, Reid, Parramatta, Mackellar, Warringah, Banks and Hughes.

Victorian moderate Jane Hume said a “net zero future is part” of the Paris agreement.

“The question is how do we get there, we can take our own pathway there, that’s what every country has signed up to, to forge their own path to a low emissions future,” Senator Hume told Sky News.

“This isn’t impossible, we just need to make sure we find the right Australian way to get there.”