Nationals leader David Littleproud has responded to party colleague Barnaby Joyce’s call for the Coalition to abandon the 2050 net zero emissions target.
Littleproud told Sky News that while an ongoing internal review would determine the official party stance, it was crucial to offer a “sensible position” and that it would be no use “trying to achieve the impossible”.
Joyce continued his crusade against net zero on Channel Seven’s Sunrise this morning, noting that ditching the target would help to clearly separate the Coalition from Labor, as the opposition hopes to rebound from a crushing election loss in May.
Nationals leader David Littleproud, and former leader Barnaby Joyce.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen, Dion Georgopoulos
On Sky News, Littleproud said the Nationals’ net zero position would be determined by an ongoing review, though he conceded that supporting such a target cannot occur at the expense of regional communities.
“What we are experiencing, particularly in regional areas, that I don’t think people in metropolitan areas understand is the real burden of our landscape being ripped up, our livelihoods being ripped up for this full renewables approach – we are tearing communities apart,” Littleproud said.
“Unfortunately, when you see many parts of the rest of the world now saying that we’re not going to get to net zero, we need to actually make sure that we’re sensible about this, rather than trying to achieve the impossible.”
Joyce has said he will table legislation in the new parliamentary term to abandon the net zero target, although it’s unclear if such a bill would receive the support of his Coalition colleagues.