Conservative Liberals hold ‘power walk’ before delivering coup de grâce to net zero

The Liberals are set to dump net zero after a strong majority at a special party meeting spoke against the existing commitment to it.

In a show of strength ahead of the debate, a phalanx of more than a dozen from the party’s conservative faction walked together down the corridor to the meeting.

At the front of the group were three women: Sarah Henderson, who was publicly critical of Opposition Leader Sussan Ley last week, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, whom Ley forced off the frontbench, and new New South Wales Senator Jessica Collins.

Behind them, beside each other, were the two aspirants for leader, Angus Taylor and Andrew Hastie.

Liberal members of the shadow ministry on Thursday will meet to finalise the party’s policy, which Ley and energy spokesman Dan Tehan will then announce.

Negotiations with the Nationals – who have already dumped net zero – will follow. A joint parties meeting will be held, remotely, on Sunday. Based on where the Liberals have reached so far, agreement between the Coalition parties should be settled without too much difficulty.

Ley’s leadership is likely to be preserved in the short run, but her enemies will still be circling in the new year.

Ley said the five-hour meeting had been “excellent”. It had been “terrific to hear from all my Liberal Party colleagues,” she said.

According to counts, 17 people spoke in favour of retaining the commitment to net zero, while 28 spoke against.

Although there was strong opposition to retaining net zero, there was not a push at the meeting to leave the Paris climate agreement.

Tehan told reporters afterwards the meeting had endorsed two “foundational principles” underpinning policy development, as well as eight “guiding principles”.

The “foundational principles” are “having a stable, reliable energy grid which provides affordable power for households and businesses”, and “reducing emissions in a responsible, transparent way that ensures Australia does its fair share”.

The guiding principles include staying in the Paris agreement and committing to lifting the ban on nuclear energy.

Tehan said there was “pretty much unanimity” on the principles.

The meeting opened by hearing from Liberal Party federal director, Andrew Hirst. Presenting research on the issue, Hirst said it showed people saw net zero as a “proxy” for action on climate.

He said voters wanted to see sensible action on climate change, and rejecting net zero would be a political risk. But if a decision was taken to dump it, there were arguments, especially around costs, that could be deployed to seek to change people’s minds, Hirst said. His presentation was based particularly on focus group research recently undertaken by the party.

Hastie told the meeting a Coalition government should repeal legislation committing to net zero, and if necessary call a double dissolution if the Senate repeatedly blocked this.

Taylor, who was energy minister in the Morrison government and so part of crafting the net zero commitment in 2021, supported its scuttling.

Deputy leader Ted O'Brien also backed dropping the commitment, as did Alex Hawke, Ley’s numbers man.

Ley herself, once an advocate for net zero, has for some time been willing to jettison it to prop up her leadership. She did not present a view to the meeting.

Leaks poured out of the party room as fast as the contributions were made – they were so constant that it might as well have been live-streamed. Henderson complained about them, suggesting Ley needed to impose more discipline.

Members of the moderate faction fought against removing reference to net zero. They included Anne Ruston, who is deputy Liberal leader in the Senate, Andrew Bragg, Jane Hume, Andrew McLachlan, Julian Leeser, and Melissa Price.

James Paterson, a senior conservative who had earlier tried to promote a compromise, opposed net zero, advocating a sharp contrast with Labor.