Barnaby Joyce defends splitting from Coalition on net zero ‘crusade'
Mr Joyce will introduce a private member's bill to repeal net zero and has gained the support of fellow former party leader Michael McCormack.
Both MPs were banished to the backbench after the Liberals and Nationals had their brief post-election split – a move Nationals leader David Littleproud at the time put down to 'generational change'.
But up the back, neither of the heavyweights need to follow the party line, posing a real threat to Mr Littleproud's tenuous authority and Liberal leader Sussan Ley's efforts to project a modern, united opposition.
Cornered by reporters in a press gallery hallway, Mr Joyce was asked on Wednesday why he was rehashing a conversation that Australians had already had at two federal elections.
'No one can dispute power prices are going through the roof,' he said.
'No one can dispute that the power grid is becoming unreliable.'
He also said it is indisputable 'that the geopolitical times that we live in have become vastly more precarious'.
'No one can dispute that you need a strong economic base if you want to defend our nation,' Mr Joyce said.
'And we are trying to achieve net zero – something that neither Russia nor China nor the United States, nor Indonesia nor Brazil or the majority of African countries or Southeast Asian nations are part of.
'You're in the minority group here, the minority of people in the globe, the vast majority of the GDP of the globe.'
He went on to say that 'even if you believe every chapter, verse of what net zero was going to achieve, it's not going to achieve it because the world's not participating in it'.
'So why are we on this sort of singular crusade by ourselves that has no effect on the climate but incredibly deleterious to the standard of living and the cost of living with the Australian people.
'It's insane.'
More to come
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