Barnaby Joyce vows to wind back ‘lunatic crusade' of net zero with private member's bill
The former deputy prime minister and Nationals backbencher's clarion call on Friday afternoon laid bare the Coalition's decades-long brawl over climate change and energy policy.
The New England MP, who has long been sceptical of the impacts of climate change, described the policy to reduce carbon emissions by 2050 to net zero as 'treacherous' to Australia's security in a post on Facebook on Friday afternoon.
Joyce also claimed Australia's commitment to reducing carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 was akin to self-immolation without the 'authentic' participation of other countries.
'There is no more time to assess, to ponder, to nuance or to amend. Net zero must be repealed and as such, I will, at my first opportunity bring forward a bill to do that,' he said.
'The idea that, at this stage, we have put the focus of our nation on a lunatic crusade of Net Zero is treacherous to the very security of Australia.'
There's no guarantee Joyce's private members' bill will be considered for debate if it's introduced in the upcoming sitting fortnight.
The opposition is undertaking an internal review of its election policies with climate change and energy expected to take centre-stage in an ideological tussle.
Joyce, along with his Queensland colleague Matt Canavan, have long campaigned for the climate targets to be ditched, while some Liberals, such as the shadow home affairs minister, Andrew Hastie, have expressed fresh scepticism about the goal.
Joyce has previously labelled the estimated cost of net zero 'utterly untenable' and urged the Coalition to walk away from the Paris agreement and its associated climate targets.
The shadow energy minister, Dan Tehan, told Guardian Australia in June the financial cost to reach net zero by 2050 may shape the Coalition's decision on whether or not it keeps the target.
'The cost will be one of the most significant factors that will drive our decision,' Tehan said, accusing the government of obscuring the cost of signature climate policies, including the capacity investment scheme.
Within the Nationals, Canavan is also conducting a review of the party's policy on net zero, which is expected to take months.
The Coalition has walked back its plan to introduce government-owned nuclear power plants into Australia's energy mix as part of its approach to reducing emissions over the next three decades following the federal election.
The Coalition adopted its net zero by 2050 policy in 2021 following tense, protracted discussions between Joyce, then the deputy prime minister, and Scott Morrison ahead of the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow.
Morrison told ABC News in June he still believed the opposition should retain its net zero targets.
'I wanted to ensure that Australia could continue to attract investment capital, particularly out of so many other countries for which this was potentially becoming quite a stumbling block,' he said.
'I didn't want us to become an island when it came to investment of capital, which was becoming a pretty serious problem, so I thought we took the right approach.'
The former NSW energy minister Matt Kean, who is now the Climate Change Authority chair, said the Liberal party needed to 'get back to making rational decisions when it comes to energy policy based on engineering, economics and science'.
'That is the path forward for the Liberal party. Anything else is a road to ruin,' he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Labour to spend millions on electric car handouts
Labour will unveil £700m of taxpayer-funded subsidies to encourage the public to buy more electric cars. Heidi Alexander, the Transport Secretary, will this week announce grants for drivers to help cover the upfront cost of a new vehicle as well as more cash for charging points. Her intervention comes amid growing concern within the Government that flagging sales of battery-powered cars are putting net zero targets at risk. Labour has kept Conservative plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030, which will force motorists to switch to electric-powered vehicles. But many drivers have been put off by high upfront costs, with battery-powered models typically costing thousands more than their petrol counterparts. The average price of a new electric vehicle in Britain is just under £50,000, more than double the cost of a typical petrol car at £22,000. Electric vehicles have also been plagued by high depreciation, losing their value faster than petrol and diesel cars because their batteries degrade. The Transport Secretary told The Telegraph: 'We do know that the high upfront purchase cost of EVs is something that people are wary about. 'I think we've got to be honest and say there are a lot of people out there who think that EVs are just for the very wealthiest. 'We also want to really move away from people having range anxiety, to people having range awareness and knowing that they're going to be able to make the journeys that they want to make. 'It's right that the Government thinks in the round about what we can do to tackle both of the issues, on charging and on the upfront cost of purchase.' This week, ministers will announce two new taxpayer-funded schemes to make it cheaper to buy an electric car in an attempt to stimulate sluggish demand. Ms Alexander is expected to unveil a new £640m grant scheme which will give people money off the down payment on a new battery-powered vehicle. The Telegraph understands that the plan, to be published on Tuesday, will see the highest levels of grants available for UK-manufactured vehicles. It will favour Nissan in particular, which is planning to make the next generation of Leaf electric vehicle at its plant in Sunderland from next year. There will be a cut-off point at which the grant can no longer be claimed, with buyers of more expensive models, like Teslas, not expected to be eligible. Ministers revive Tory subsidy programme Any subsidy scheme may take the form of the Government underwriting loans, which drivers could take out to help them cover the upfront payment. The programme will effectively revive a system of cash handouts which were previously available to EV buyers before being axed by the Tories in 2022. Under that scheme, drivers got £1,500 off the price of a new electric car. Since then, grants have only been available for vans, taxis, trucks and motorbikes. At the time, ministers said the subsidies were no longer needed because they had 'successfully kickstarted the UK's electric car revolution'. Since then, EV sales have continued to grow strongly, but they have been increasingly fuelled by fleet purchases rather than private demand. Recent figures showed that the number of enquiries about new electric cars from ordinary consumers has fallen 65 per cent year-on-year. There are just over 1.5m EVs on the UK's roads at present, records show, compared with 19.2m petrol and 11m diesel vehicles. Motability's expanding role in EV market One of the major fleet buyers of electric cars is the taxpayer-funded Motability Scheme, which leases cars to people who receive disability benefits. The controversial programme, which has been branded Britain's biggest 'benefits scandal', has recently doubled its fleet of EVs to around 70,000 vehicles. On Sunday, Ms Alexander will also unveil £63m in funding to bankroll the installation of tens of thousands of new charging points across the country. Under the plans, councils will be given cash to install cables under roads where the houses do not have driveways to allow for on-street charging. It will mean that, for the first time, many EV owners who live in terraced houses will be able to use cheaper domestic electricity rates to charge their cars. There will also be extra cash to increase the number of electric ambulances, and road signs will be put up on motorways and A-roads to advertise charging stations. Put together, the two schemes will represent an investment by the taxpayer of around £700m over the next four years in boosting EV sales.
Reuters
8 hours ago
- Reuters
US demands clarity from allies on their role in potential war over Taiwan, FT reports
July 12 (Reuters) - The Pentagon is urging Japan and Australia to clarify what role they would play if the U.S. and China went to war over Taiwan, the Financial Times reported on Saturday. Elbridge Colby, the U.S. under-secretary of defense for policy, has been pushing the matter during recent talks with defense officials of both countries, the report said, citing people familiar with the discussions. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Daily Mail
9 hours ago
- Daily Mail
A young woman could be deported from Australia after half a decade due to a change in immigration rules
A woman faces deportation due to sudden changes in immigration policy after six years of building a life in Australia. Caitlin Fraser moved from Scotland to Australia in 2019 on a working holiday visa but quickly fell in love with the country and wanted to stay long term. The now-31-year-old secured a Temporary Skills Shortage (TSS) visa in 2023, which would last two years, after a small Sydney restaurant agreed to sponsor her as a manager. While in the role, Ms Fraser worked full-time, paid her taxes and adopted a rescue dog, Billie, who has become her closest companion. She planned to reapply for another TSS visa which would bridge the time between her first visa and her application for a Temporary Residence Transition (TRT) Visa to become a permanent resident. But a change to Australia's skilled migration list meant the occupation 'restaurant manager' was not included, which means she cannot renew the crucial TSS visa. 'I'm not sleeping at the moment out of fear, I don't know what's going to happen,' she told Nine News. Due to the change, Ms Fraser must leave Australia when her current visa expires, just two weeks short of meeting the two-year full-time work requirement for a Temporary Residence Transition visa. She said she only has nine weeks remaining to apply for something that will cost $4900. The visa agent handling her case, Edupi, has an additional professional fee of $5500. It is not the first time Ms Fraser has been forced to source thousands of dollars to secure her visa status in Australia. She initially paid roughly $14,000 to secure her current TSS visa with the help of an immigration lawyer. Ms Fraser said she is frustrated by changes to the visa rules which have left her ineligible for permanent residency. 'The injustice is insane,' she said. 'This should be for new people applying, not for someone who's at the end of the visa. This isn't what I paid for.' The change was introduced in December last year when the Skills in Demand (SID) visa replaced Ms Fraser's current one. Those already living in Australia with a TSS have been permitted to stay until the visa expires but it cannot be renewed. Some are able to apply for the SID but Ms Fraser's role as restaurant manager is not included on the required jobs list. 'Whilst the occupation... was previously available for nomination for a Temporary Skills Shortage visa, the occupation has not been included on the Core Skills Occupation List,' a Department of Home Affairs spokesperson said. 'It is therefore ineligible for nomination for a SID visa.' Ms Fraser's cousin Megan Brokenshow has also launched a GoFundMe page to raise funds to help Caitlin remain in the country. 'She's worked so hard to stay here and build a life,' she said. 'It's heartbreaking to think she could be forced to leave because of a technicality.' On Saturday afternoon, the fundraiser had successfully received $2132 of the $7000 target. If Ms Fraser is unable to secure or pay for a new visa before her TSS visa expires, she'll be forced to leave Australia on September 14.
