David Littleproud couldn’t announce the Nationals’ dumping of net zero fast enough. Photo: David Little proud.
When it comes to friendly fire, the Nationals have thrown one huge grenade into the camp of their Coalition partner, and it’s labelled ‘net zero’.
While it’s been more than obvious for some time that the Nats were heading towards the decision they reached on the weekend to formally dump their commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050, their timing is not at all good for the Liberal Party.
The Libs are undertaking their own review of energy policy and have even brought the deadline forward in light of the Nationals’ apparent urgency over the matter.
So urgent it appeared to the Nats that they couldn’t wait a second longer to ditch net zero and tell the world all about it – not even for the sake of Coalition cohesion.
Unwilling to let the Liberals complete their review, then have an internal, adult discussion to map a way forward together, the Nationals felt the need to get on the front foot and, in the process, trip up their Coalition partner.
Nationals leader David Littleproud offered little more than motherhood statements and landcare projects as his party’s alternative “all-energy approach” to reducing carbon emissions.
Substance has never been a strong trait for the Nationals.
What the move has achieved, however, is to embolden similar-minded members of the Liberal Party to pressure Opposition Leader Sussan Ley to reach the same conclusion.
Former Nationals leader Michael McCormack is boasting that a number of Liberals have privately expressed to him their delight at the junior Coalition partner’s decision.
They want a similar outcome from their own party room, he suggested.
And he has compared the move to the Nationals’ early decision to oppose the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
“I spent a lot of time with a lot of Liberals yesterday afternoon and they were quite pleased that we had made this decision,” McCormack told Sky News on Monday (3 November).
“We were first and early out on the Voice when 60 per cent of the polling suggested that the Voice was something Australians wanted.”
But it’s no longer only in private that these views are being expressed.
Emboldened by the Nationals’ move, more Liberals are willing to speak out and openly make life harder for their leader.
Take the press conference called on Monday at Parliament House over the Optus triple-zero inquiry.
When questions from journalists inevitably turned to net zero and the Nationals’ decision, Liberal backbenchers couldn’t wait to have their say.
WA Senator Dean Smith was guarded, saying he welcomed the Nationals’ move because it offered clarity, but that it won’t necessarily push the Libs in the same direction.
“Their position will help inform our position,” he said.
“But I’m sure the National Party is very, very, very aware that the Liberal Party will come with its own position, informed by its own priorities and considerations.”
Sarah Henderson, who was relegated to the back bench following this year’s federal election, was less than diplomatic, however.
She jumped to the microphones with a few choice morsels of wisdom she knew only too well would give grief to the Opposition Leader who took away her shadow ministry.
“I believe that we will get a position where we will work together to reject Labor’s net-zero laws,” Senator Henderson said.
“These policies are not working. Australians can see it. The National Party have called this out.
“We are very concerned to ensure that we continue to reduce emissions. But we are not going to allow Australians to pay the highest price.”
While Henderson wants the Liberals to reach the same decision as the Nationals “as soon as possible”, she also knows too well that is not the view shared by everyone in the party.
Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg was happy to let it be known on Monday that he thinks the party should stick with net zero.
“We’re a trade-exposed nation. We’re not going to walk away from international agreements. Never,” he said.
By Tuesday morning, Senator Bragg was warning Australia would become a “pariah state” if it dumped net zero.
Following the staged revolt from the junior Coalition party – and faced with newly released record low polling numbers for the Opposition – Ms Ley is putting on a brave face.
“I’m looking forward to the work that will happen between now and the Liberal Party’s position becoming known, and then us sitting down together as two mature parties developing something that takes the fight up to the Labor Party,” she said when asked on Monday about the Nationals’ move.
“While a lot of your questions are about process and personnel, for me it is really about one thing, and that is the train wreck energy policy of this government.”
Translation: Bloody hell, Littleproud, don’t you know it’s Labor and not the Liberals who are your enemy.
