Joyce, McCormack unite in push to scrap net zero climate targets

Farmers have flagged the impact retreating from net zero targets will have on the international market, as Barnaby Joyce prepares his bill to repeal net zero targets.

Farmers say retreating on emissions targets could have a negative impact on their access to international markets, as former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce prepares a bill to repeal net zero legislation.

With Labor’s majority in the lower house, the private member’s bill will not succeed; however, Mr Joyce said “the interesting thing is how far we can get the debate”.

“It’s really important in the first instance after a catastrophic election, that we go to one of the biggest issues in regional Australia,” he said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

“Wind towers, solar panels, power prices going through the roof, the deindustrialisation of Australia; it’s got to stop, and this is part of that process.”

Barnaby Joyce MP holds a doorstop press conference in the press gallery at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Farmers for Climate Action chief executive Natalie Collard said Nationals policy was a matter for them to comment on, but farmers had expressed serious concerns about the impact of walking away from net zero on their international markets.

“A lot of international and domestic markets want to know that they’re buying sustainable produce,” she said.

“It’s increasingly written into free-trade agreements, certainly the EU is an obvious example. There are whispers about China and the targets they might set given recent announcements on reducing emissions themselves.”

Mr Joyce’s bill has the backing of his former political enemy, with Michael McCormack throwing his support behind the bid.

It marks a shift in stance from Mr McCormack’s previous support for net-zero, which he said was because farmers were concerned about being hit with trade penalties if the government didn’t adopt the target.

“I thought if we don’t sign up, we’re going to be left behind. So I did it for the right reasons at the right time, but the world has changed,” he told The Australian.

Mr McCormack told Sky News on Wednesday he’d like to think the majority of his Nationals colleagues would support repealing net zero.

However, his colleagues were quick to wrap up a press conference on Wednesday when the topic turned to net zero and the Coalition’s position.

Nationals leader David Littleproud is currently waiting on a review, led by senators Matt Canavan and Ross Cadell, into the Nats’ position on net zero to determine whether the party would ditch the policy.

“It’s become about achieving the impossible, rather than actually doing what is sensible … all for an ideology that isn’t going to sustain an energy grid that will keep our economy going,” he told reporters today.

Natalie Collard, chief executive Farmers for Climate Action. Picture: The Australian/ Luis Enrique Ascui

ABARES figures from 2021 estimated that Australian farms lost an average of almost $30,000 each a year in profits over the past 20 years due to climate change.

“What we know is that reducing emissions really matters for farmers more than any other group in Australia,” Ms Collard said.