Michael McCormack to back Barnaby Joyce's bill to dump emission reduction targets and won't rule out leadership challenge

Sky News AU

2 days ago

Michael McCormack has revealed he will back Barnaby Joyce's bill to axe emission reduction targets and denied ruling out a leadership tilt against David Littleproud.
The issue of emission reduction targets has become a contentious sticking point within the Coalition, with policy disagreements on the matter spurring the Nationals to briefly depart its decade-long political partnership with the Liberals in late May.
Liberal leader Sussan Ley in an attempt to modernise the party's brand has hailed 'reducing emissions' as a crucial policy aim despite her country counterparts repeatedly speaking out against the policy.
The issue once again ignited on Monday, with veteran Nationals MP and former party leader Barnaby Joyce insisting the Coalition needed to scrap it's position on clean energy targets.
Michael McCormack has declared he will support Barnaby Joyce's private member's bill to dump net zero. Picture: NCA/Martin Ollman
However, in a major development, Mr McCormack, who convinced the Nationals to support then-prime minister Scott Morrison's clean energy targets in 2021, declared that he would be officially supporting Mr Joyce's private members bill to overhaul Australia's net zero commitments.
Mr Joyce has been a long-time critic of renewable energy targets and has vowed to table legislation in the new parliamentary term to abolish the government's net zero deadlines.
The move would serve as a significant blow to Ms Ley's leadership.
In an interview with The Australian, Mr McCormack said the policy was resoundingly opposed by the Nationals and that the Albanese government's renewables push was disproportionately damaging regional communities and 'dividing families'.
'They are creating acrimony among people who have been friends for not just years, but for generations. They divide and conquer,' Mr McCormack, said referring to renewable energy companies.
Mr Joyce rubbished Mr Littleproud's decision to break with the Coalition after the catastrophic May 3 election, and said the move did deep damage to the party's reputation and image.
CANBERRA, Australia - NewsWire Photos - November 5, 2024: Michael McCormack during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
Mr Joyce said that he drummed up support for Mr McCormack in the Nationals post-election leadership contest and proclaimed he would vote for his former rival if he ever ran again for the top job.
'Was I making calls on Michael's behalf? Yes, I was,' Mr Joyce told The Australian.
'If someone said 'would you back Michael for leader? Yeah, I would. But am I going to move to create a change? No, I'm not.'
He also said his relationship with Mr Littleproud had 'broken down'.
When asked if he was vying for leadership, Mr McCormack said he was 'ambitious' for Mr Littleproud yet did not explicitly rule out running for the position.
'When a journo says, 'will you ever rule yourself out of ever ­(becoming leader)', of course you are not going to agree to that,' Mr McCormack said.
Both former leaders also lashed out at the decision to dump them from the shadow ministry in a recent reshuffle and said they only found out about the call through the media.
They said Mr Littleproud's justification of 'generational change' was both misleading and cover to force the two firebrands to retire from politics.
The Member for New England further revealed that ex Liberal leader Peter Dutton had asked him to quit politics ahead of the election, and that the request prompted a furious reaction over the phone where Mr Joyce 'lost his mind'.