Barnaby Joyce warns Coalition over planned emissions cuts

Barnaby Joyce says company tax cuts shouldn’t be the PM’s top priority, and emissions cuts will drive voters from the Coalition.

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce has warned the government against targeting agriculture for emissions reductions, saying it would be a “nut-case” move that would see rural voters abandon the Coalition.

The Victorian and Queensland Labor governments have turned up the pressure on Malcolm Turnbull’s national energy guarantee, saying they are ­reluctant to sign up to the policy before it is approved by the ­Coalition joint partyroom.

Tony Abbott, a critic of the NEG who has called on the Prime Minister to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, was the leading Coalition MP who urged the government to allow the joint partyroom to sign off and potentially amend the energy reform blueprint before it was given to the states for approval.

Mr Joyce, who has expressed scepticism about the NEG, yesterday made clear he would withdraw support for the govern­ment’s energy reform plan if the agriculture sector was asked to make unreasonable contributions to the emissions reduction task.

“If we go down that path then forget it. I’m out. See you later, goodbye,” Mr Joyce told Peta Credlin’s program on Sky News. “That is just nut-case stuff. I mean we are sick of having all these caveats placed on us by green groups, by well-­intentioned, well-paid people in Giorgio Armani suits sitting back and sort of pontificating about the world.”

In the wake of the Coalition’s lacklustre showing in the Longman by-election, Mr Joyce said the government had to be brutally honest in recognising a primary vote of less than 30 per cent “ain’t fine”.

Referring to Pauline Hanson and One Nation’s primary vote of 15.9 per cent, he said there was a “growing group of discontent that is so pronounced now that they will vote for a person on holidays in the North Sea rather than vote for the major parties”.

Mr Joyce said company tax cuts should not be the government’s first priority, identifying electricity prices as a bigger issue.

“They’ve all just got their power bill. There are mums sitting there going, ‘How do I pay this?’ And they do not want to hear about the Paris Agreement.

“Unless you focus on it, you’re going to get smacked. You’re going to get smacked every time you walk into the front bar.”

His comments came as the ­operator of Australia’s ­national electricity grid rejected claims it favoured renewables over fossil fuel generation and warned the nation faced risks if it moved too swiftly away from coal power without adequate clean ­energy investment in its place.

Chief executive Audrey Zibelman said modelling provided in its recent 20-year integrated system plan forecast was based on engineering and economics rather than ideology.

Queensland Energy Minister Anthony Lynham yesterday joined his Victorian counterpart Lily D’Ambrosio to challenge the process established by the federal government, suggesting the NEG could be overhauled by the Coalition backbench after it was signed off by the states.

“I have already raised my concerns with Minister (Josh) Frydenberg directly about the process of state and territory ministers being asked to consider and approve the NEG ahead of further consideration, and potential amendment, by the federal LNP partyroom,” Dr Lynham said. “Our discussions will continue.”

Malcolm Turnbull and LNP candidate Trevor Ruthenberg on the campaign trail in the seat of Longman. Picture: AAP

Ms D’Ambrosio said: “How can we have any ­confidence in what they’re asking from us if it hasn’t been through his partyroom first? We won’t rush into supporting a policy that we’re not certain is in the best interests of Victorians, just to appease the coal ideologues in Canberra.”

Energy Minister Mr Frydenberg urged the states and territories not to “raise the white flag” and side with the extreme left in opposing the national energy guarantee. He said the states and territories would be asked to sign up to the final detailed design of the NEG at a key meeting on August 10 — subject to a phone hook-up on the afternoon of August 14 in which the government hopes to receive approval for the release of the exposure draft of the legislation.

“Groups like GetUp!, Greenpeace and the Australian Conservation Foundation are part of the problem when it comes to energy policy, not the solution,” Mr Frydenberg told The Australian.

“For them it’s an all-or-nothing approach and anything which means an end to the subsidies and the government handouts is anathema to them.

Opposition energy spokesman Mark Butler said the government faced a “furious” debate in parliament over its “pathetic” carbon emissions targets, which he argued would lock Australia into a bad policy.