Net zero and nuclear energy up for debate at LNP convention

After the party’s brutal federal election loss, the Queensland LNP will debate a grassroot members’ push for the net zero emissions policy to be abandoned and nuclear to be embraced.

Federal Deputy Opposition Leader Ted O'Brien. Picture: Nikki Short/NewsWire

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The Liberal National Party in Queensland is heading for a showdown over net zero and ­nuclear policy at its annual convention next month.

Party branches in regional ­federal electorates such as Toowoomba’s Groom and Flynn in central Queensland are pushing policy motions calling for the ­Coalition to end its commitment to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 but retain its controversial nuclear power plan.

In the wake of the Coalition’s bruising federal election defeat – which saw Labor win five of the LNP’s Queensland seats – MPs and grassroots party members are wrestling with key policy areas after new federal Liberal leader Sussan Ley promised to be consultative when developing a fresh platform.

Deputy leader and LNP MP for the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax Ted O’Brien’s hiring of Coalition nuclear policy sceptic Steven Hamilton as his chief of staff has sparked concern within LNP ranks that nuclear would be scrapped.

Before the election, then opposition leader Peter Dutton and energy spokesman Mr O’Brien spearheaded the plan to build seven government-funded nuclear power plants on the sites of coal-fired power stations.

Policy motions will be debated on the floor of the LNP’s annual convention in Brisbane next month. While resolutions are not binding on the parliamentary wing, the result of votes at conventions are considered a measure of grassroots members’ sentiment.

One senior LNP member told The Australian that there was a growing move by some branches to reject net zero but embrace ­nuclear power.

“It’s strengthened after the last election,” the senior LNP member said.

“People had thought we would be moving to a more centre-right position on environmental stewardship under Peter (Dutton) but with Peter gone, now there’s just a hardened view.

“Getting clarity on our position on net zero is what we want.”

Economist Steven Hamilton.

Mr O’Brien – the opposition’s Treasury spokesman – confirmed this week he had hired economist Mr Hamilton as his chief of staff and senior policy adviser.

Mr Hamilton will leave Washington, where he is an assistant professor of economics at George Washington University, to take up the role.

He derided Mr Dutton and Mr O’Brien’s nuclear policy as “nothing more than a vanity project our economy cannot afford” in a column for The Australian Financial Review in the middle of last year.

Mr O’Brien declined to comment but The Australian understands he believes that policy decisions will be made by the ­elected MPs in the partyroom, not by staff.

His LNP colleague, Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan, has been an outspoken critic of the net-zero policy, describing it as “futile and unachievable” as he unsuccessfully campaigned for the Nationals leadership in the wake of the federal election loss.

Lawrence Springborg and Ben Riley at the LNP convention in 2024. Picture: Richard Walker

The LNP state executive is due to meet in Brisbane on Friday, where president Lawrence Springborg – considered the father of the merged conservative parties in Queensland and a former health minister in the one-term Newman government – is expected to tell his colleagues he won’t recontest the position.

If Mr Springborg does step down, his replacement will be voted in at the party’s August convention.

There will also be pressure on the party executive to deal with members’ concerns about campaign printing, after an investigation by The Australian revealed that deputy state director Matt Chadwick organised millions of dollars of election materials to be printed by a company with ongoing financial links to himself and his mother.