Analysis: Sussan Ley dragged kicking and screaming to dump net zero

Sussan Ley faces a leadership crisis after being forced to abandon net zero targets. To save her job, her only option is to double down and relentlessly make the economic case against net zero.

When Sussan Ley took the reins of the Liberal Party – after Middle Australia gave it the middle finger at the May election – she promised to deliver an agenda “that meets modern Australia where they are”.

This was the whole point of the Ley project.

A fresh face, a change of tone, and an outstretched hand to disillusioned Liberal voters in the suburbs who stuck with a Teal or switched their support to Labor.

Now, after the Liberal Party formalised its opposition to net zero, the Ley project is on life support.

Simply put, the Opposition Leader was dragged kicking and screaming to this position by restless conservatives in her own ranks and a National Party which, once again, looks more courageous and better organised than its senior Coalition partner.

And it’s a position which leaves Ley between a rock and a hard place.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, with energy spokesman Dan Tehan in the background, announcing the Liberals’ intention to stop supporting net zero. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

At the same time, she has frustrated moderate allies who worry seats lost at the last election can’t come back without net zero, and emboldened conservative rivals who get hungrier for a change of leadership by the day.

To save her leadership, Ley’s only option is to double down and relentlessly make the economic case against net zero – “placing affordable energy and the cost of living at the centre of Australia’s economic future”, as her joint statement with the Coalition’s energy spokesman Dan Tehan puts it.

There’s a fight to be had with Labor over power bills, and Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s failure to reduce them by $275, as promised prior to the 2022 federal election.

Families are hurting, businesses are struggling, and Australia’s industrial base is facing extinction – just look at the fate of Tomago Aluminium in the Hunter, which is facing closure due to soaring energy costs.

Helpfully, for Ley, picking up the kitchen table case against net zero is also an opportunity to talk, every day, about Labor’s economic management, which the Coalition must do if it has any chance of making up ground at the next election.

The Liberal Party has picked the fight, now Ley needs to start swinging.

Originally published as Analysis: Sussan Ley dragged kicking and screaming to dump net zero