Ditching net zero ‘too silly for words’: Bragg<\/a><\/p>\nAhead of meetings to agree on a Liberal climate policy, the leading moderate says his party must retain a focus on achieving net zero better than Labor.<\/p>\n
Few others in the party room have been as strident in their commentary, leaving some uncertainty about the balance of numbers. But abandoning net zero is seen as the most likely outcome, according to several Liberals who spoke to the ABC.<\/p>\n
Despite the broad policy agreement, the choice of words is seen as a “binary test” by those on both sides of the debate.<\/p>\n
Conservatives emphasise the struggles of heavy industry, pointing to the Albanese government’s ongoing efforts to prop up the Tomago aluminium smelter, among others, as evidence that the transition is failing and its political viability will turn.<\/p>\n
They also identify shifts from the political right across the advanced world, especially in the United States, and from prominent activists such as billionaire Bill Gates, who this week called for a climate “pivot”. “All the traffic is running one way,” said one Liberal.<\/p>\n
But while support for climate action has fallen modestly in Australia and comparable countries since 2022 in a context of high inflation, according to pollster Ipsos, it remains high, and higher still among urban and young voters.<\/p>\n
Moderates could accept pushing out the date for net zero, but believe the words are synonymous with credible climate action in the minds of voters.<\/p>\n
“Ditching [them] sends a message that we don’t care what they care about,” former MP Keith Wolahan said.<\/p>\n
We’ll always have Paris<\/p>\n
Conservatives argue that an emissions reduction pledge without an end goal of net zero could be presented as consistent with the 2015 Paris agreement, which makes a clear allusion to net zero but does not actually include the words.<\/p>\n
But that view will not satisfy those most strongly in support of net zero. One Liberal told the ABC the distinction was meaningless and that if the party room agreed to “stay in” Paris, it would not be legitimate to prohibit moderates from using the words.<\/p>\n
“I don’t think there is a neat middle ground on the words; it’s a binary test, unfortunately,” said a Liberal opposed to net zero.<\/p>\n
That raises the messy possibility that a compromise position in the meeting could fall apart immediately after it, with conservatives claiming net zero has been scrapped but moderates continuing to describe their policy as net zero.<\/p>\n
That would leave Sussan Ley wedged even further between conservatives who have made no secret of their disdain for her leadership and moderates who support her but are frustrated at her failure to take a strong stance to win back urban voters.<\/p>\n
“It will completely destroy whatever leadership she’s got left,” said one.<\/p>\n
A Liberal who supported Ms Ley for the leadership said the events of the week were likely to bolster the credentials of Angus Taylor, who, as energy minister, signed Australia up to net zero and whose position is regarded as more nuanced.<\/p>\n
Some conservatives agree with moderates that ditching net zero will entrench the party’s struggles among voters in cities, where Liberals held 38 seats under Scott Morrison but now hold just 12.<\/p>\n
But while some hold hopes that outer suburban voters are malleable on the issue, especially if cost-of-living pressures continue, they also point to the strong views of the Liberal base, reflected in the party room, as a reason to shift.<\/p>\n
“A nuanced, slightly pro-net-zero position is not durable. Our members are completely against it, so we’d have to revisit it again in six months. We might as well get it over and done with,” said one senior Liberal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The bitter divide between Liberal moderates and conservatives over climate policy is likely to persist regardless of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,164],"class_list":["post-273829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}