Nationals set to dump net zero at Sunday meeting in climate test for Sussan Ley and Coalition
The party will instead back a climate policy that links Australia’s emissions reductions with what is being achieved globally, raising the Coalition stakes for Sussan Ley.
The Nationals are set to dump a net-zero emissions target after a special partyroom meeting on Sunday, raising the stakes for Sussan Ley to quickly unveil a new course on climate and energy policy that keeps the Coalition united.
Nationals leader David Littleproud said his party would finalise its position on net zero after a 9am meeting in Canberra on Sunday, with senior party sources telling The Australian it was nearly certain the Nationals’ commitment to a carbon-neutral future would be junked.
The party is instead likely to back a climate policy that links Australia’s emissions reductions with what is being achieved globally, in line with a recommendation from a Nationals-commissioned report by the Page Research Centre.
With the Liberals inching towards their own policy on net zero, The Australian can reveal a committee of senior MPs will be set up to negotiate a united Coalition position by the end of the year.
The committee will work through the inconsistencies of both policies and come to a negotiated outcome that Liberals and Nationals can live with. The junior party is again likely to push for billions of dollars in funding for the regions in order to strike a deal.
The Nationals formally opposing net zero will clash with Liberals who want to retain a watered-down version of the commitment to net zero by 2050, struck by Scott Morrison, while giving momentum to the push from leadership aspirant Andrew Hastie to walk away from climate targets.
Moderate Liberals who attended a meeting of about 30 MPs on climate and energy policy on Friday were optimistic the party would retain a commitment to net zero with caveats, but some conservative MPs say there is growing momentum to junk any goal for carbon neutrality.
Mr Littleproud on Friday received the final report into the net-zero target commissioned by Nationals senators Matt Canavan and Ross Cadell, who were leading the junior Coalition party’s review on the policy.
“The final paper commissioned by Senator Cadell and Senator Canavan from Page Research was received on Friday, and I have therefore consequently called a partyroom meeting for 9am Sunday to finalise our position,” Mr Littleproud told The Australian.
“The report goes into alternatives of net zero, in reducing emissions but making sure we are not getting ahead of the rest of the world, costing Australia and billions. It gives a number of recommendations to alternatives to the net zero by 2050 policy and ultimately the consideration of the partyroom will get to a position of support or dumping net zero on Sunday.”
The partyroom meeting will come before a vote at the Nationals’ federal council meeting on a motion to dump net zero and withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Nationals sources have told The Australian it is unlikely the party will agree on Sunday to leave Paris, leaving it unclear whether Mr Littleproud will push for the Coalition to oppose Australia’s international commitment to net zero.
Several Nationals MPs have told The Australian they do not think dumping Australia’s international commitment to net zero is the main game, arguing domestic policies should just ignore the 2050 pledge.
Visiting the at-risk Tomago aluminium smelter in the NSW Hunter Valley while many of her MPs were discussing the Liberal climate policy in Canberra, Ms Ley said: “Our energy policy is about much more than the net zero target. It’s about delivering two things: a stable, reliable grid that delivers affordable energy for households and businesses and Australia playing its role in reducing global emissions responsibly as we should.”
The Australian understands the Page Research Centre report makes recommendations to the party around six principles including: lowering electricity prices; ensuring Australia does not reduce emissions more aggressively than the rest of the world; supporting technological development; empowering communities through adaptation; and protecting national security by ensuring defence industries were not hampered through climate goals.
There is also a section in the paper that discusses Australia keeping its emissions reduction in line with the rest of the world and having a policy that maintains Australia’s carbon footprint at a bit over 1 per cent of global output.
This would allow Australia to increase its emissions reductions if technological advancements allowed for the world to accelerate climate action.
In a meeting of Liberal MPs on Friday, conservatives and moderates felt optimistic an agreement could be struck on energy and climate policy but there is still division over whether the term “net zero” should be used.
Liberal moderate Dave Sharma warned the party would fail to gain more seats at the next election if it opposed net zero, while Liberal senator Andrew McLachlan argued the party was on the right track when pursuing the 2050 target under Mr Morrison.
Liberal MPs Tony Pasin and Ben Small were among conservatives who argued the term “net zero” should be dumped, although this was not advocated in the meeting by Right faction leader Angus Taylor.
Several Liberal conservatives told The Australian on Friday it would be a mistake for the party to adopt a position that made the Coalition look like “climate deniers”, with moderates confident the party would stick with a version of net zero.
Options being considered to retain net zero include dumping domestic laws and subsidies to reach climate targets and pushing back the ambition to 2060.
With some Liberals concerned MPs opposed to net zero were using the issue to undermine the Opposition Leader, frontbencher and leading moderate Andrew Bragg said the ambition was a “totally fungible concept”.
“You can cut net zero a million different ways,” Senator Bragg said. “Any nation wanting to cut pollution can craft their policies to suit their own situation. The problem Australia faces is Labor’s disastrous rollout with its 82 per cent renewable target, for example. This has increased power prices and trampled over regional communities. It’s the domestic policies that have been disastrous, not the existence of an anti-pollution treaty.”
Mr Hastie, who could not attend the backbench meeting due to an appointment in Perth with an orthopaedic surgeon, told supporters “we must abandon the net zero target and save our country from economic ruin”.
He said the 2015 Paris Agreement was “liberalism at its peak”.
“Since then the world has changed,” Mr Hastie said.
A final Liberal net zero position is expected by the final parliamentary week of the year in Canberra from November 24-27.
The 2021 net zero deal negotiated between Scott Morrison and Barnaby Joyce to get the Nationals on board involved more than $20bn for low-emissions programs and infrastructure.
Also at the Nationals federal council meeting, Senate leader Bridget McKenzie will say it is important for the Coalition for the Liberals to do well. “We want the Liberals to succeed,” Senator McKenzie will say, according to a draft copy of her speech.
“But we are not the drag on the Liberal Party; we are the ballast.
“Our electorates are also on the frontline on Labor’s cruel climate targets, which are shredding jobs, carving up our landscapes, and dividing our communities.”
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