Moderate Liberals want ‘viable option’ of Coalition split on the table
Dave Sharma has urged Sussan Ley to leave open the option of breaking up the Coalition after the Nationals dumped net zero.
A leading moderate Liberal has urged Sussan Ley to leave open the option of breaking up the Coalition after the Nationals dumped net zero and backed taxpayers underwriting new coal-fired power stations.
After the Nationals unanimously agreed to oppose any net-zero target in a special partyroom meeting on Sunday, Liberal senator Dave Sharma said the Coalition agreement should be reconsidered if the parties had climate policies that were irreconcilable.
“The Nationals have set their policy. It is now up to the Liberals to set our policy,” Senator Sharma said.
“If the two can’t be reconciled then we need to consider the future of the Coalition.”
One Liberal MP said breaking up the Coalition was a “viable option”, arguing the Nationals had already damaged the party’s hopes of winning back city seats at the next election.
“They are terrorists,” the Liberal MP said.
“The first rule of being a parasite is not to kill your host.”
Another Liberal said the move was “an attempt to corner us and I don’t think it will be successful”.
The net-zero dump was not enough for Barnaby Joyce to return to the Nationals partyroom, with the likely One Nation defector demanding the party commit to ending support for large-scale renewables projects.
“People in regional areas will say: ‘does this stop the intermittent power precincts being built in our areas and the transmission lines?’ And I can’t at this point say ‘yes it does’ because it doesn’t,” Mr Joyce said.
The Australian revealed on the weekend the Nationals would junk net zero in a special partyroom meeting on Sunday, with the party backing a policy to set non-binding interim “ambitions” in line with the average emissions reductions achieved by OECD nations.
The Nationals policy would see Australia aim to lower emissions by 30 to 40 per cent of 2005 levels by 2035, about half of Labor’s 62 to 70 per cent emissions reduction target.
There are few mechanisms in place to actually achieve interim goals in the report that underpinned the Nationals decision to dump net zero, with the Page Research Centre recommending the junking of Labor policies such as the safeguard mechanism, vehicle emissions standards and climate financial disclosure rules.
The report favours restoring Tony Abbott’s Emission Reduction Fund and ending climate considerations as part of the Australian Energy Market Operator’s design of the electricity market.
It also recommends making the Capacity Investment Scheme “fully technology-neutral” by underwriting coal, gas, hydro, nuclear and renewables projects.
The Liberals are expected to land a position by the year’s final parliamentary sitting week beginning on November 24, with a committee of senior MPs to work through both policies and finalise a united Coalition policy by Christmas.
While many Liberals left a partyroom consultation meeting on Friday believing the party would back net zero with caveats, MPs say there is a prospect Ms Ley will dump the term “net zero” from her policy agenda in an aim to safeguard her leadership.
While some senior Liberals close to the Opposition Leader were comfortable with the Nationals positioning, there are Liberal MPs who are furious with the intervention and believe it is aimed at pressuring Ms Ley to junk net zero completely.
There is growing pressure on Ms Ley to avoid giving in to the regional party, with some Liberals arguing the Nationals were more concerned with their own political interests than the Coalition’s.
When asked whether it was plausible for the Coalition to remain intact if the two parties have separate climate policies, Nationals leader David Littleproud said he would not engage in “hypotheticals”.
He also would not say whether the Nationals could consider a vague target of net zero by the second half of the century to strike a deal with the Liberals and keep the Coalition together.
“Let’s see where the Liberal Party gets to and we’ll have those constructive conversations,” Mr Littleproud said.
Despite backing away from any net-zero target, Mr Littleproud said there was no need to leave the Paris agreement despite it being the forum where Australia has committed to net-zero by 2050.
Mr Littleproud said the Nationals backed a “technology agnostic” Capacity Investment Scheme that could be used for high-efficiency, low-emissions coal plants.
“Building a HELE coal-fired station brings down emissions, and that’s even before you think about carbon-capture and storage,” he said.
Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie on the weekend said the Coalition’s week-long break-up after the election “probably” wouldn’t be the last split between the Liberal and National parties.
“That wasn’t the first time we’d split and probably won’t be the last,” Senator McKenzie said. “When we’ve got a good reason to do something we do it.”
Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the Nationals had “betrayed regional Australia”, arguing the renewables rollout was an economic opportunity for the bush.
“Renewables are not only keeping the lights on as ageing coal plants retire, but they’re creating jobs and new revenue right across regional Australian communities,” Mr Bowen said. “The transition is happening now: October saw half the grid made up by renewable energy.
“Farmers are earning a significant income stream from hosting renewable energy projects alongside existing farming activities.
“Unlike the National Party, we support farmers being able to make choices about what they host on their land.
“We don’t think farmers and farming families should be bullied or ostracised for choosing to supplement their income by hosting renewable energy alongside their traditional farming activities.”
The Nationals-aligned Page Research Centre report says the Climate Change Authority Act should be amended to require the body to recommend targets based on how much other comparable countries had achieved.
The report argues Australia has moved too far ahead of the world in reducing emissions by 24 per cent of 2005 levels, compared with 14 per cent across the OECD.
“If the current trend continues, Australia could pause its reductions for a decade and still remain ahead of most advanced economies by 2035,” the report says.
Opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan said “we will continue with our methodical process”.
“We will continue to work through this issue in the working group,” he said.
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