Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce is testing the coalition’s stance on climate change, as the Nationals MP makes a bid to dump an emissions target.
Mr Joyce has used one of the first sitting days of the new parliament to introduce laws to repeal Australia’s plan to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
While the private member’s bill won’t be voted on in the house, the stance of Mr Joyce and other prominent Nationals MPs on net-zero has been laid down before Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and the Liberal Party have agreed on a formal position.
Ms Ley says the coalition will wait until a review of its disastrous May 2025 election result has concluded before making a formal decision on the policy.
Many moderates within the Liberal Party want the net-zero target retained so the party is seen to be taking climate action seriously.
But Mr Joyce said there was no reason why abandoning the targets shouldn’t be on the table.
“This is not about leadership. This is not about trying to create some sort of discordant note,” he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
“There’s not anything in this bill that the coalition didn’t have the same position we voted for.
“So if you want to have a review, you should include in that why have you got a different position to what the coalition actually had.”
Mr Joyce has the backing of his former leadership rival, Michael McCormack.
The two ex-deputy prime ministers are critical of Nationals leader David Littleproud’s handling of the aftermath of the election defeat.
The coalition reunited at the end of May following a messy week-long split driven by divisions on net-zero emissions.
Mr Littleproud’s leadership was contested after the election over the party’s adoption of the climate target.
Opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan said the coalition would work to produce a policy that demonstrates how it will play its role in emissions reduction.
“Now that’s going to take some time, it’s going to involve making sure I’m out there listening to colleagues and what they have to say,” he told Sky News.
“It also means going out and listening to industry and, importantly, listening to households.”
Liberal MP Garth Hamilton has also backed Nationals MPs trying to jettison the climate target.
It comes as One Nation leader Pauline Hanson plans to launch her own bid to scrap net-zero in the upper house on Monday.
Senator Hanson said her motion to repeal the target will be seen as an indication of where the coalition partners stand on the emissions measure.
“How are the moderates and the progressives in the Liberal Party going to go with this?” she asked on Sky News.
“We’ve got to look at the impact (net zero) having on our country.”
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