Dumping the net zero target will consign the Liberal Party to perpetual opposition, according to the Liberal who narrowly lost the Sydney seat of Bradfield to a teal candidate.
Gisele Kapterian emailed shadow ministers ahead of a crunch meeting of the Liberal Party room at which the 2050 climate target is expected to be dumped in favour of a new emissions reduction pledge.
“My experience on the ground is that a credible, technology-focused climate policy is essential to securing the many discerning voters in key urban and suburban seats,” Kapterian, who lost by 26 votes, said in the email, first reported by the Australian Financial Review.
Gisele Kapterian narrowly lost the race for the seat of Bradfield.Credit: Jessica Hromas
“Without these seats, mathematically, we cannot win government, nor, from a principled perspective, should a party of government be incapable of capturing these seats.”
Kapterian said she supported nuclear energy to reach net zero, a tagline she said was “a proxy for how seriously we take our commitment to a sustainable future.”
“That language is not a proxy for the ALP’s commitment to continuing unaffordable energy prices, inefficient subsidies, and the degradation of our natural environment. Furthermore, the outcome of the last election shows that our commitment to net zero was not an electoral drag in the seats we hold today.”