Sussan Ley buries Liberal commitment to net zero, but offers a fig leaf to moderates

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley announced on Thursday that the Liberal Party was dropping its commitment to net zero and said a future Liberal government would repeal Australia’s present legislated 2030 and 2050 targets for reducing emissions.

After a meeting of the Liberal shadow ministers, Ley told a news conference: “We are not pursuing net zero, we are pursuing energy affordability and emissions reduction”.

In a fig leaf for the moderates who have fought the dropping of net zero, she said “while it is not our policy […] net zero would be welcome if we can get there with technology, with choice and with voluntary markets”.

The ditching of net zero follows Wednesday’s Liberal Party meeting at which speakers overwhelmingly rejected the 2050 target that the Morrison government signed up to in 2021. Liberal shadow ministers on Thursday discussed and ticked off on the details of the Liberal policy.

Representatives of the Liberals and Nationals will now negotiate to bring the policies of the two parties together before a joint party meeting, held virtually, on Sunday.

It seems certain the Coalition will agree on a common policy. Nationals leader David Littleproud said the Liberals’ decision “gives us great hope that in the coming days that we’ll sit down constructively with them”.

Pre-empting the announcement, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, “The Coalition are choosing to take Australia backwards. They’re walking away from jobs for Australians and investment certainty for business that is so important. And what business has been saying.”

Under questioning, Ley and energy spokesman Dan Tehan could not provide estimates for claims that energy prices would come down under the opposition’s policy.

Ley stressed that under the Liberals’ plan, “affordable and reliable energy will always come first. Our emissions reduction goals will never come at the expense of Australian families and this principle will guide every decision we make.”

The Liberal plan says emissions would be reduced on average, year on year, for every five-year period of Australia’s Nationally Determined Contribution under the Paris Agreement. They would be brought down “as far and as fast as technology allows without imposing mandated costs on families and industry.”

Ley struggled when questioned about how Australia could stay in the Paris Agreement when the Liberals said they would scrap Australia’s already-registered targets under the pact.

“We will look Australians in the eye and say this is a plan to bring down emissions and to provide affordable energy for you. And if there are reasons why people in Paris or in some United Nations organisation don’t like it, I can deal with that,” she said.

The Liberals’ plan says that unlike Labor, a Coalition government would harness “all available technologies to bring prices down”.

“This includes maintaining baseload power, supporting all forms of generation where it is required, unlocking new gas supply, and lifting the ban on zero emissions nuclear energy, which is already used or being developed in 19 of the world’s 20 richest countries.”