Coalition's Climate Change Divisions Exposed as Australia's Emissions Reduction Policy Faces Reckoning

As the Australian House of Representatives prepares to debate Barnaby Joyce's private bill to dump the country's net zero target, the internal struggle within the Coalition over climate change has come to the fore. The Queensland Liberal National party convention's decision to abandon Australia's net zero targets has added to the growing list of Liberal state divisions opposed to the emissions reduction policy, including South Australia and Western Australia.

The tussles are expected to play out in public on Monday, with Joyce's bill to ditch the 2050 net zero target up for debate in the lower house. The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, remains defiant in promoting the Coalition's nuclear energy proposal, while the shadow treasurer, Ted O'Brien, has refused to reveal his stance on the issue. Meanwhile, the shadow home affairs minister, Andrew Hastie, has described the net zero economy as a "moral hypocrisy" and a "scam".

The opposition's climate and energy policy review is centered around the future of its commitment to net zero targets. A growing number of Coalition members, including Joyce, Matt Canavan, and Michael McCormack, have been agitating for the targets to be dumped. The Albanese government has legislated a 2030 target to reduce emissions by 43% compared with 2005 levels, and a 2035 target is expected to be announced in September ahead of the UN climate change conference, or Cop30, in November.

Key Takeaways:

• The Queensland Liberal National party convention has voted to abandon Australia's net zero targets, adding to the growing list of Liberal state divisions opposed to the emissions reduction policy.
• The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, remains defiant in promoting the Coalition's nuclear energy proposal.
• The shadow treasurer, Ted O'Brien, has refused to reveal his stance on the issue of abandoning net zero targets.
• The shadow home affairs minister, Andrew Hastie, has described the net zero economy as a "moral hypocrisy" and a "scam".
• A growing number of Coalition members, including Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan, and Michael McCormack, have been agitating for the net zero targets to be dumped.
• The Albanese government has legislated a 2030 target to reduce emissions by 43% compared with 2005 levels, and a 2035 target is expected to be announced in September.
• Independent MP, Zali Steggall, will introduce a private members' bill to legislate independent national climate change risk assessments every five years and a fully funded adaptation plan to risks that arise from climate change.

Statistics:

• Australia has legislated a 2030 target to reduce emissions by 43% compared with 2005 levels.
• A 2035 target is expected to be announced in September ahead of the UN climate change conference, or Cop30, in November.
• The national climate risk assessment, which includes modelling of future climate damage, estimates of the number of people who could be killed by worsening heatwaves, and a mapping tool that forecasts flooding risk in suburbs across the continent, has been handed to the government but remains unreleased.

Sources:

• [The Guardian Australia, "Barnaby Joyce’s private bill to scrap net zero emissions target set to be debated in parliament", 2023]
• [Weekend Today, "David Littleproud says Nationals will 'open up the market' on nuclear energy", 2023]
• [The Guardian Australia, "Liberal MPs sent emails demanding they drop net zero targets or 'risk losing our support' by a rightwing lobby group", 2023]
• [Weekend Today, "Zali Steggall to introduce bill to ensure future climate risks assessments are independent of government", 2023]