Net zero inflicting ‘worst standard of living’ on young Australians since WWII, Sussan Ley says
Sussan Ley has made a wild claim about the living standards of younger Australians as the debate about net zero reaches a head in Canberra.
Sussan Ley says her grandchildren are facing the “worst standard of living since the Second World War” because of net zero.
The Opposition Leader emerged from a meeting with senior Liberals on Thursday confirming they would follow in the Nationals in scrapping Australia’s target of carbon neutrality by 2050.
Fronting media at Parliament House with her energy spokesman Dan Tehan, she cited Labor’s failure to bring down energy prices.
“Australians deserve affordable energy and responsible emissions reduction, and the Liberal Party believes we can do both, but affordable energy must come first,” Ms Ley told the post-meet press conference.
“Under Labor, there has been this trifecta of failures: prices up, reliability down, and emissions flatlining.
“Labor’s net zero policies of mandates and taxes are hurting businesses, and they’re pushing up prices despite promises of cheaper energy, prices have increased substantially under Labor.”
Taking questions from journalists, she was asked if she held concerns “about the type of planet your grandchildren will inherit”.
“Yes, I am, and I think of my six grandchildren aged under six every day, and I know it is vital that they have a better world to inherit,” she replied.
“But I look at the world they’re set to inherit if the policies of this Labor government continue.”
She continued: “I want to say to my grandchildren: you should inherit a better standard of living than my generation and your mum and dad’s generation.
“Right now they are set to inherit the worst standard of living since the Second World War, and I don’t think that’s fair.
“And if affordability is central to this proposition … what is more central to it than energy?
“Because if energy is unaffordable, everything is unaffordable.”
The shadow cabinet agreed to three key points.
They include reducing emissions year-on-year within five year blocks, tying those reductions to comparable countries, and as quickly as technologies allow.
The Liberals also agreed to stay in the Paris Agreement.
The accords aims to keep global temperatures below 2C on pre-industrial levels.
The Coalition signed Australia up to it in 2016 and also set Australia’s net zero by 2050 target in 2021.
While Ms Ley and Mr Tehan promised better power prices under a Coalition government, they were thin on the details of how that would happen.
Though, Mr Tehan said all options were on the table.
“We will take a technology agnostic approach,” he told reporters.
“We will let the market determine how we go about that.”
Appearing the ABC a short time later, he confirmed nuclear would be in the mix.
“We believe in climate change and taking action and that’s why we have set out three goals when it comes to emissions reduction, year-on-year, on average we will reduce emissions over a five-year period,” he said.
“We will also make sure we work with like-minded countries to play our fair share and we will bring all technologies to the table to reduce emissions.
“So that will make us very different to the Labor Party because they will not bring all technologies to the table when it comes to emissions and can I tell you, every advanced economy has nuclear or is looking at nuclear.
“We will become a relic if we do not look at nuclear energy.”
Over the coming days, Mr Tehan will lead a Liberal delegation taking the position to the Nationals to thrash out a joint position.
‘Great hope’
Nationals leader David Littleproud welcomed the outcome, telling reporters it gave his party “great hope” the Coalition could find a joint position.
“The Nationals embarked on a calm, considered pathway back in June to get to a position to understand and review our previous position on net zero by 2050 and understand that Labor’s net zero by 2050 is going to cost the Australian people $9 trillion and put at risk (the) NDIS and Medicare,” Mr Littleproud told a press conference.
“That’s $5000 per Australian per year between now and 2050.
“Today, what we’ve heard from the Liberal Party gives us great hope that in the coming days that we’ll sit down constructively with them to work through the pathway that they’ve articulated that in many ways mirrors what the National Party was able to articulate last Sunday.
“And that takes leadership, that takes maturity to say to the Australian people – unlike the Prime Minister who wants to have a 2015 debate about the science – we want to have a 2025 debate about the economics.”
‘Unelectable’
Reactions to the decision have started flowing in, with independent Zali Steggall declaring the Coalition “unelectable”.
“The Liberal Party’s decision to abandon Australia’s net-zero by 2050 target is reckless and a massive step backwards,” Ms Steggall said in a statement.
“At the last election, one in three Australians voted for an independent or minor party – a clear sign that millions feel the major parties no longer represent them.
“Today’s announcement shows the federal Liberals, just like the Nationals, are now even further removed from community expectations over climate action in Australia.
“This decision makes the Coalition unelectable.”
Ms Steggall unseated former prime minister Tony Abbott to clinch the North Sydney electorate of Warringah in 2019.
The first of the so-called Teals, she put climate action at the centre of her campaign, framing it as an economic opportunity to seize rather than hampering Australia’s minerals-heavy economy.
Fellow Climate 200-backed independent Dr Sophie Scamps took a similar line.
“The Liberal Party of yesteryear is dead,” she said.
“Their net zero backdown shows they are a party without conviction, who no longer know what they stand for, or understand who they represent.
“For three decades now, the Liberal Party has not only failed to show leadership on the defining issue of our time but have purposefully obstructed action – which is why the clean energy transition is now so urgent.
“The modern-day Liberal Party is pusillanimous, duplicitous, and lacking vision.”
‘Clown show’
Earlier, Anthony Albanese slammed the Liberals’ internal divisions over net zero as a “clown show”, accusing the party of climate denialism.
The Prime Minister told reporters in Sydney on Thursday the opposition was considering walking away from net zero because “they fundamentally do not believe in the science in climate change”.
“Australians cannot afford to keep paying the price of Coalition infighting when it comes to climate policy and energy policy,” he said.
Scenes of the Liberal Party’s right faction, entering the Wednesday party room meeting as a bloc, was a sign the opposition were “a divided rabble”, Mr Albanese said.
“It’s a show of division,” he said.
“These were people who, many of whom, have either challenged or resigned from the front bench.
“You had Angus Taylor walking with his counterparts – this was a sign of opposition to Sussan Ley’s leadership, and it was a rather extraordinary moment.
“And the pictures (were) very deliberate for people to gather beforehand in formation in order to send that message, and that message was surely received, not so much by the party room, because that’s a matter for them, their clown show that they’ve become.
“It was a sign for the Australian people, of how divided they are.”
Originally published as Net zero inflicting ‘worst standard of living’ on young Australians since WWII, Sussan Ley says
