The WA Liberal Party has supported a motion to abandon a target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, putting added pressure on Australian Opposition Leader Sussan Ley to drop the policy for the federal party.
Delegates at the WA Liberal State Council also approved a motion to get rid of the Indigenous and Torres Strait Islands flags behind the prime minister at press conferences and cut back on Welcome to Country ceremonies.
It is understood both motions were carried with an overwhelming show of support when they were read out and without needing to go to a ballot.
The behind-closed-doors meeting was held at a hotel in federal MP Andrew Hastie’s electorate of Canning, one of only four seats the Liberals now hold in WA.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Hastie said the motion was about sending a “clear signal” to Australians.
The WA Liberal party has voted to abandon its commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050. (Reuters: Tim Winborne )
“We stand for something — we are willing to fight for our values and convictions,” he said.
“Energy underlies everything in the economy, energy security is national security. If we’re not getting cheap, reliable, affordable power then we’re not going to be competitive as a nation.”
Labor increased its dominance in WA after the May federal election, winning 11 seats, while independent Kate Chaney retained Curtin.
As Ms Ley and the party weigh up how to claw back those and other seats around the country, she has ordered a review of the Liberals’ energy and emissions reduction policy.
Mr Hastie said he believed “calling out Labor’s moral hypocrisy” could help the Liberals recover seats across the country.
Andrew Hastie says backing the motion sends a “clear signal” to Australians. (ABC News: Briana Shepherd)
“We export a lot of our coal and gas to India and China, both their emissions are growing … and yet we deny coal and gas to the Australian people,” Mr Hastie said.
He rebuked the idea the Liberals were being tone-deaf after being soundly beaten at the last federal election.
“Well I got the biggest swing in WA — 5.5 per cent — pretty sure I got a strong endorsement,” he said.
Debate rages on
The review has thrown open the debate on net zero within the Coalition, with Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce proposing a private members bill to dump the policy.
Grassroots Liberals have been making their views known to the parliamentary party, with the South Australian Liberal State Council already abandoning net zero and the Queensland Liberal National Party also due to decide on the matter.
Zero positives for Sussan Ley in the Coalition’s net zero battle
The motion at the WA State Council on Saturday was put forward by the Canning Division, in Mr Hastie’s seat.
It said the WA division of the Liberal Party called on the federal Liberal opposition to abandon the target of net zero by 2050 and to reform “the legislated net zero incentives, subsidies and penalties”.
It said it wanted the party to “affirm (a) commitment to clean energy, but not at the expense of Australia’s economic and national security”.
Further, the motion called on the federal opposition to “harness Australia’s natural abundance of coal, gas and uranium in the generation of stable, reliable and affordable power for all Australians”.
The motion said its positions should be adopted in light of the fact the three countries responsible for more than 50 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions — China, the United States and India — “have no intention of meeting Net Zero by 2050”.
The decision puts Opposition Leader Sussan Ley under more pressure over the Coalition’s climate policy. (ABC News: Luke Stephenson)
It also said “attempts to decarbonise Australia are destabilising our energy grid, forcing up power prices and damaging our national and economic security”.
“Net zero 2050 is slowing Australian productivity, diminishing our standard of living, hurting families and businesses and hollowing out our industrial base,”
the motion said.Welcome to Country ‘divisive, tokenistic’
The WA Liberal Party’s Policy Committee put up the motion on the flags and Welcome to Country ceremonies.
It called on the federal opposition to adopt a policy where the only other flags, apart from the Australian national flag, to receive Commonwealth recognition should be those of others states and territories or of government institutions, such as the military.
The motion also called on the opposition to remove official status for Welcome to Country ceremonies.
“While they may originally have been well-intentioned, they are now often divisive and tokenistic and do little to improve the lives of our most disadvantaged Australians,” it said.
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