Nationals pushed to back net zero emissions ‘mechanisms’

The National Party will be asked to “support mechanisms” to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 despite some federal MPs opposing the target.

Matthew Canavan says ‘moving to net zero emissions is going to cost us dearly’. Picture: AAP

The National Party will be asked to “support mechanisms” to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 despite some federal MPs opposing the target.

The Australian has obtained a series of motions set to be voted on at the Nationals federal conference next week that will stoke climate and energy divisions in the Coalition, including calls for the federal government to remove restrictions on the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to invest in high-efficiency, low-emissions coal and gas-fired power stations.

Divisions over climate and Scott Morrison’s ambition to reach net zero emissions by 2050 reignited this year after Nationals backbenchers released a manufacturing plan supporting more coal-fired power.

NSW Nationals party members have put forward two energy and resources motions for federal conference to consider, including that the “federal conference supports mechanisms to achieve a 2050 net zero emissions target while mitigating any harmful impact on the local manufacturing industry or primary industry in regional Australia”.

The second motion suggests such a mechanism, urging the government to adopt “green hydrogen energy that can support base-load energy with zero emissions”.

Every state and territory government has adopted a net zero emissions target by 2050. The Prime Minister has refused to formally embrace the target but says his goal is to reach it as soon as possible and preferably by the middle of the century.

Nationals MPs Llew O’Brien and Barnaby Joyce and senator Matthew Canavan oppose the government adopting the target as policy.

“You don’t start down a path where you don’t quite know where you might end up,” Mr Joyce said.

Senator Canavan added the motion was “meaningless”.

“I could move we shut down our live cattle trade as long as it doesn’t hurt farmers or shut down every coal mine as long as one miner doesn’t lose their job. But that would make no sense,” he said.

“This motion is impossible to achieve because moving to net zero emissions is going to cost us dearly.”

With a majority of Coalition MPs in support of lifting the prohibition on nuclear power and some Nationals saying nuclear should be embraced if Australia is to meet net zero emissions by 2050, the federal parliamentary wing also joined with NSW and South Australian members to endorse nuclear energy.

They call on the federal government “to remove any prohibitions against the construction of nuclear power stations from federal legislation (including ‘modular’ nuclear energy)” and “support the construction of nuclear power stations subject to approval under strict regulatory processes”.

Motions passed at federal conference are not binding on the parliamentary wing but are put to the Nationals partyroom to decide what becomes official policy.

After Nationals senators drafted legislation to allow the CEFC to invest in nuclear generators, HELE coal and carbon capture and storage, the parliamentary partyroom will ask federal conference to pass a motion giving the green bank the ability to do just that.

The government should also “support the construction of the Collinsville coal power station if its business case shows that it is a viable project”, according to another motion.

The parliamentary partyroom wants approval processes for new resources projects like the New Acland and Dendrobium coal mines to be “streamlined” by the federal, state and territory governments.

Another controversial motion by the partyroom and Young Nationals pushes for the federal government “to support a regulatory framework to legalise vaping products and e-cigarettes in Australia with appropriate regulations to restrict access to under-age Australians”.