Malcolm Turnbull ‘took climate policy off the table’, say Nationals

Nationals MPs say Malcolm Turnbull had gripped on to coal when it was politically necessary.

Nationals MP Matt Canavan.

Nationals MPs have declared that Malcolm Turnbull agreed to ­effectively put Coalition “climate change policies off the table” and had gripped on to coal when it was necessary for him to become prime minister and hold on to power.

In response to the former Liberal prime minister’s prediction that Nationals’ MPs could lose their seats to progressive climate change independents, the Nationals are pointing to Mr Turnbull’s signed Coalition agreement on climate change policies when he took over from Tony Abbott in 2015.

Mr Turnbull said last week that Coalition MPs should be “fearful traditional Coalition voters will not support a government they believe is failing to respond to the climate change crisis”.

“The Liberal Party appears to be less progressive on climate and more conservative on social issues. And this presents a real political vulnerability for a moderate Liberal incumbent,” Mr Turnbull told The Australian. “They may say, truthfully, that they take climate action seriously, but if they are self-evidently lacking in any influence, voters may look to a progressive liberal independent who will not be so constrained.”

But Matt Canavan, the former resources minister in the Turnbull government, said on Monday that Mr Turnbull was obviously personally against coal but had embraced Nationals’ policies and coal-fired power when he became prime minister. “When he was in charge he knew people wanted coal and backed coal-fired power to help him remain as PM,” Senator Canavan told The Australian on Monday.

Current Resources Minister, Keith Pitt, also tweeted last week a copy of Mr Turnbull’s speech to the National Press Club when he was prime minister, supporting the future of coal in Australia.

Mr Turnbull has publicly criticised the Morrison government for not moving to end coal use and move past gas to renewable energy. Last week, Mr Turnbull derided Mr Pitt publicly for defending Scott Morrison’s declaration that Australia’s climate change policy would not be decided by “inner-city elites”, that there would be technological solutions to cutting emissions and for defending coal exports. When he became Liberal leader in 2015 Mr Turnbull had to get the formal support of the Nationals through then deputy prime minister and Nationals leader Warren Truss to form government.

Mr Truss had insisted on a new Coalition agreement being struck between him and Mr Turnbull.

As the Nationals drew up requests for a Coalition agreement, including a guarantee there would be no return to a carbon tax, which Nationals say took climate change policies “off the table”, Mr Turnbull had to delay going to the Governor-General and parliamentary question time.

The Nationals leader when Mr Truss retired, Barnaby Joyce, also negotiated a new Coalition agreement with Mr Turnbull limiting action on climate change.