Nationals open to net zero deal to head off Morrison government clash

Senior Nationals MPs are paving the way for a new climate change compromise between the Coalition parties.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and his partner Vikki Campion and children attend the swearing-in ceremony at Government House, Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Senior Nationals MPs are open to backing a 2050 net zero emissions target under the leadership of Barnaby Joyce under strict conditions, paving the way for a new climate change compromise between the Coalition parties.

Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie has laid out a pathway for the acceptance of a net zero target but warned Australia must not be coerced into any international deal through the imposition of carbon tariffs or the “platitudinous calls” of other nations.

Mr Joyce’s return as Deputy Prime Minister after toppling Michael McCormack as Nationals leader in a partyroom spill on Monday has created uncertainty around the government’s climate change policies. The new leader campaigned on a harder line on a potential net zero emissions target and is demanding more senior positions in the ministry.

The Prime Minister is yet to commit to the target but has faced international pressure to do so. He told G7 leaders earlier this month that Australia believed technology was the key to cutting emissions and Australia wanted to get to net zero emissions as soon as possible, preferably by 2050.

Re-elected Leader of the Nationals Barnaby Joyce poses for photographs with Prime Minister Scott Morrison after being sworn in by Governor-General David Hurley at Government House. Picture: Getty Images

Negotiations continued on Tuesday between Mr Joyce and Scott Morrison for a new Coalition agreement, with the Liberal Party arguing for the Nationals to retain their existing ministries in an outcome that would avoid a broader reshuffle and retain the status quo.

Late on Tuesday the government’s energy policies suffered a setback when a new regulation to expand the remit of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency was expunged by the Senate.

ARENA would have been allowed to invest in carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and electric car infrastructure, but the regulation was disallowed in the Senate with the support of Labor, the Greens and the crossbench.

Mr Joyce led the government in question time after earlier being sworn in as Deputy Prime Miniser while Mr Morrison quarantined in the Lodge – but the new Nationals leader did not rule out supporting a net zero emissions target.

Mr Joyce declared he would have a “laser like focus” on supporting coalmining jobs in battleground seats in central Queensland and the NSW Hunter Valley.

“We understand where the wealth of this nation comes from,” he said. “(We) stand by coalminers and iron ore miners, our farmers. We are not ashamed of our live cattle producers, we support our cotton farmers, our rice producers. The fellows on the other side, they rarely even visit them.”

Nationals deputy David Littleproud said the party would consider supporting a net zero target when it saw modelling on what was required to get there. He said regional Australia needed to “square the ledger” on carrying the load for beating the nation’s Kyoto targets through tighter restrictions on land clearing.

“We copped it in the neck in regional Australia for everyone to sleep soundly in metropolitan Australia. It is time our mob got repaid for it,” he told Sky News. “Of the 130 countries that are signed up to net zero by 2050, only 14 can give us a detailed pathway to getting there. So at the moment it is a platitude.”

Senator McKenzie in an opinion article published online in The Australian argues the global rules underpinning a “net zero future” need to be “fair, enforceable, agreed to by everyone” while also advancing Australia’s interests.

Senator McKenzie, who is set to return to cabinet in the reshuffle expected on Friday, said Australia was “different” from other nations in “meeting and exceeding our international obligations”. “Some of the world’s biggest carbon emitters like China currently have a green light to increase their emissions for many years, or that other countries are setting more ¬ambitious targets, while failing to meet ones previously promised,” she said.

While Mr Joyce is yet to finalise his frontbench team it is understood the Nationals are expected to take on the same portfolios they held under the leadership of Mr McCormack, preventing a large-scale cabinet reshuffle. Mr Littleproud will remain in the agriculture portfolio, while Keith Pitt is aiming to remain in resources.

Senator McKenzie argued that the post-World War II free-trade regime took an enormous amount of hard negotiations and work to achieve and any “genuine, transparent and rules-based system to reduce emissions” would require the same.

This would involve the deployment of “all our diplomatic and trade resources” to ¬“ensure Australia’s interests are looked after”.

Mr Pitt, who last week created controversy by warning of potential job losses under a net-zero target, also said the issue would need to be discussed by the Coalition partyroom.