Nationals formally abandon net zero by 2050<\/a><\/p>\nThe Nationals have formally abandoned a commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050, setting a challenge for Opposition leader Sussan Ley whether to follow or risk splitting the Coalition.<\/p>\n
Following that announcement, the Liberal Party leadership met on Sunday night, with South Australian moderate senator Anne Ruston speaking in favour of retaining a commitment to net zero, while right faction members Angus Taylor and senators Michaelia Cash, Jonno Duniam and James Paterson favoured dumping the target.<\/p>\n
One Liberal told the ABC the centre of debate inside the party was shifting towards dumping net zero, though debate remained on whether an “aspiration” rather than a hard, legislated target could be kept.<\/p>\n
But multiple moderate sources have told the ABC that ditching net zero would be a “red line”, and are furious at the Nationals for what they see as an attempt to drag the Liberals to their preferred policy position, as occurred during the Voice referendum last term.<\/p>\n
The issue has emerged as the greatest test for Sussan Ley’s leadership, and whether she can prevent the Coalition from splitting a second time, after a brief break-up in the aftermath of their devastating election loss.<\/p>\n
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The Liberals are debating whether to follow the Nationals and dump net zero. (ABC News: Luke Stephenson)<\/p>\n
‘You have to have net zero’<\/p>\n
This morning, moderate Liberal Andrew Bragg said a net zero commitment should be kept \u2014 but in a sign of moderates ceding ground, he implied the end goal could move beyond 2050.<\/p>\n
“You have to have net zero in some form,” Senator Bragg said.<\/p>\n
“I mean, there’s no doubt that Australia has very serious treaty obligations. Now, the question of how you get to net zero is something for each country to make up their own mind on.<\/p>\n
“The Paris Agreement says we’ve got to get to net zero in the second half of this century, not necessarily by 2050, although that would be the optimal approach.”<\/p>\n
The senator added that Labor’s approach to the climate transition was “eroding” support, particularly in regional Australia, and the country needed an alternative that suited the economy and society.<\/p>\n
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Andrew Bragg urged his party to keep its net zero commitment. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)<\/p>\n
Despite anger at the Nationals within Liberal ranks, senior MPs are working to keep the Coalition together, with one source telling the ABC the leadership group was working on a plan that would ensure both the Coalition and Liberal party room were “kept together”.<\/p>\n
The leadership group is understood to be working on a timeline to settle a position before the final sitting week of the year later this month.<\/p>\n
The process is still being determined but would likely involve the Liberal leadership taking a proposal to the party room.<\/p>\n
Some policy work will sit behind the position, but a full energy plan would not be developed until later in the term.<\/p>\n
A broader Coalition working group involving the Nationals and Liberals would then seek to settle on an agreed energy platform.<\/p>\n
Shadow Energy Minister Dan Tehan said he was confident a position could be reached.<\/p>\n
“Obviously, there’s some noise here and noise there but the way we have been working together, constructively together, I’m very confident that we’ll be able to reach a position, which means we can all continue to work together in the best interests of the nation,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Liberals appear to be creeping towards dropping the party’s commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":352115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4740,285,69423,68237,23198,130293,17127,172301,172299,172300,61774,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-352114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-australia","9":"tag-climate-change","10":"tag-coalition","11":"tag-dumping","12":"tag-emissions","13":"tag-emissions-reduction-target","14":"tag-liberal-party","15":"tag-liberals-net-zero","16":"tag-moderates","17":"tag-nationals-net-zero","18":"tag-net-zero","19":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115484592357926401","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}