Nationals leader David Littleproud clears the air on net-zero plan

David Littleproud says the Nationals remains committed to the Coalition’s net zero emissions by 2050 pledge, staring down a push by Barnaby Joyce supporters to abandon the target.

Nationals leader David Littleproud is staring down an internal push to abandon net zero emissions by 2050. Picture: Martin Ollman / NCA NewsWire

Nationals leader David Littleproud has declared that his party remains committed to the Coalition’s net zero emissions by 2050 pledge, staring down a push to abandon the climate change target.

In an exclusive interview with The Weekend Australian ahead of his keynote speech at the Nationals federal conference on Saturday, Mr Littleproud said “there has been no change in our party room for our commitment”.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton earlier on Friday also rejected an internal Nationals push to drop the emissions reduction target because there is “strong support for net zero” within the Coalition.

Mr Littleproud, who distanced himself from the pre-2022 election net zero deal negotiated between Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce, promised to deliver a new suite of policies designed to differentiate from “Labor’s net zero”.

“There’s probably two more budgets before the next federal election,” he said. “We’ll work through that. Our net zero story is a different one to what it was under the Morrison era because the Nationals have had the courage to lead the Liberals into nuclear energy as an opportunity.

“It’s a totally different proposition to what it was before the last election in how we could achieve that. We’re working through those commitments that were made in the past but also the opportunities that we’ve created because of the Nationals leadership … on nuclear.

“In fact, we couldn’t get the Liberals to agree on nuclear before the last election. It took the courage of Peter Dutton to follow the Nats.”

Mr Joyce’s New England Federal Electorate Council is pushing a motion at the federal conference in Canberra for the party room to “abolish its policy of net zero by 2050, and adopt a policy that will reduce Australia’s CO2 emissions in collaboration with the rest of the world”.

Mr Littleproud, who said he encouraged “debate and engagement” with Nationals members, warned Australians must understand “what they’re feeling at the moment is Labor’s net zero”.

“That’s causing pain not just in energy prices but also for regional Australians where this reckless race to 82 per cent renewables – not just with the construction of solar panels and wind turbines but also the 28,000km of transmission lines – means that it’s losing its social licence,” he said.

“Our net zero was going to be a different one. Peter and I now have a different perspective and a different way of what our energy policy will be going into the next election. We’ll look at zero emissions nuclear technology, and I think that’s a positive step and it’s one we want to lead the community conversation on.”

Mr Littleproud also supported Mr Dutton’s proposal to hold a second referendum on constitutional recognition – without a voice – despite resistance from some Coalition MPs.

“We would want to see proper process in terms of a Constitutional convention and work through timing to make sure that we understood that and we minimise costs,” he said.

Looking ahead to the 2025 federal election, Mr Littleproud said he was focused on re-engaging with voters who abandoned the Nationals at recent polls.