A Liberal elder has blasted the Nationals for breaking with their coalition partner over net zero by 2050 as Opposition Leader Sussan Ley prepares to unveil a long-awaited climate and energy policy.
Liberal MPs and senators will meet in the next fortnight to thrash out the final details of a new energy plan after rifts were exposed about what direction the coalition should take after Labor’s landslide election win in May.
Internal debate over the coalition’s energy policy was given new impetus over the weekend when the Nationals announced they were abandoning any commitment to net zero by 2050.
Phillip Ruddock, the second-longest-serving MP in Australian history, questioned the regional party’s decision to go its own way on the issue.
“The idea that you meet separately and say this is our stand, and if you don’t like it you’re on your own, is not a very sound coalition,” he told AAP.
Mr Ruddock said the coalition was best served by the Liberals and Nationals working together as a team.
In walking away from net zero, the Nationals believe emissions reductions should be pegged to an average of similar countries within the OECD.
The move, followed by a dire poll revealing support for the Liberals had hit historic lows, prompted speculation that Ms Ley’s days in the party’s top job may be numbered.
Some Liberals, mostly from the conservative flank, have been undermining their leader publicly and privately.
Mr Ruddock urged MPs to work together.
“I am of the view that you do best when you have a team, and not a team of champions,” he said.
A date is yet to be locked in for the Liberals’ meeting on energy policy, although November 23 has been flagged as it’s the Sunday before the final parliamentary fortnight of the year.
MPs want the debate sorted before parliament rises for the year.
Party insiders have also played down the prospects of a leadership spill this year over the issue.
Moderate Liberal senator Andrew Bragg said Australia would become a “pariah state” if it ditched its 2050 target.
Fellow frontbencher Tim Wilson said Ms Ley needed to stand up for the Liberals and their right to make their own decisions on policy.
He praised his leader for standing up to the Nationals when the coalition briefly split earlier in the year.
“She stood her ground because she knows that once she loses moral authority, you can’t get it back,” Mr Wilson told Sky News.
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