Latest news with #RepealNetZeroBill
Perth Now
2 days ago
- Politics
- Perth Now
‘Total madness': Net-zero review slammed
Independent senator David Pocock has labelled the National Party's review of net-zero emissions targets as 'total madness'. Kicking off the second week of the new parliament, on Monday former Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce introduced a Repeal Net Zero Bill. The Bill is unlikely to have support from Opposition Leader Susan Ley. However, the former Nationals leader is an influential figure, even from the backbench. 'I think it's total madness to see the path that the Coalition is taking on this,' Senator Pocock told Channel 9 on Tuesday. 'The Labor government; Yes, they're doing something, but they're not doing enough. It's not actually aligned with what climate scientists are telling us. Senator Matthew Canavan is leading the Nationals' review of the party's net-zero policy. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia 'They love to talk about how we're a small jurisdiction. We're actually one of the biggest fossil fuel exporters in the world, so we have a real role to play in this and Australians love punching above our weight.' Australia produces about 1.1 per cent of global emissions. However, Australia is the world's largest coal exporter and a major gas exporter. Despite being banished to the backbench during the Liberal and National parties' brief split following the election drubbing, Mr Joyce holds considerable sway within the Nationals. Unless Ms Ley drastically changes course in rebuilding the Coalition as a moderate opposition, Mr Joyce's private member's bill will not get far. Nationals senate whip Matt Canavan was in June appointed to an internal Nationals committee tasked with reviewing the party's net-zero policy. The senator has been a longtime critic of the energy transition and fervently supports coal. Speaking on Tuesday, Senator Canavan said he would conduct the review, would not change his position against net zero, and Australia had not debated getting to net-zero emissions. 'We need to have this fulsome debate,' he said. 'I don't think this is working, I think the evidence is in now. 'The average Australian has just suffered since we announced net zero,' he added, citing higher electricity prices. 'Why, if coal is the cheapest form of power, isn't the government using it? 'It's about time we're not led by people who clearly don't have a grasp on how the world works.' Health Minister Mark Butler said the Labor government had put in place investment-inducing policies. 'We have got a clear (emissions) target by 2030. We are on track to meet that target. We have clear policy parameters to give investors confident to make the decisions that the country needs,' he said. 'The important thing for the government is getting on with the job of fixing up a decade of inaction. 'We will focus on delivering and implementing that policy architecture, not the chaos and division on the other side of politics.'
Perth Now
3 days ago
- Politics
- Perth Now
‘They're gutless': Pauline's net zero play
One Nation senator Pauline Hanson is seizing on division in the Coalition to push through an urgency motion calling for Australia to abandon its net zero target. Senator Hanson, a long-time climate change denier, will introduce the motion on Monday following Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce's private members bill calling for the same thing. Aware of the divide in the Coalition, Senator Hanson said her motion would out opposition 'cowards'. 'They're gutless, you know, they're cowards,' she told Sky News when asked about the prospect of Coalition senators not backing her motion. 'Because a lot of these people on the floor of parliament have no understanding, cannot debate you about climate change. 'They don't even know anything about it. 'They're making decisions and voting on it.' One Nation senator Pauline Hanson says her net zero urgency motion will expose 'cowards' in the Coalition. Martin Ollman / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia 'Scam' She went on to say Australians have 'been hoodwinked'. 'It's a scam going on and if we head down this path, what will happen to Australians?' Senator Hanson said. 'You will be restricted where you travel, where you go, what you eat, and it will be based on your carbon emissions.' Australia's renewables targets do not impose restrictions on freedom of movement or diets. Earlier, Mr Joyce asked Australia's big-city residents if they are 'prepared to hurt the poor' by pursuing a carbon neutral future. Mr Joyce, who was banished to the backbench after the Coalition's brief post-election break-up, kicked off the second sitting week of the new parliament by introducing his Repeal Net Zero Bill. Unless Sussan Ley drastically changes course in rebuilding the Coalition as a moderate opposition, the private member's bill will not get far. But as a former Nationals leader, Mr Joyce holds clout within the party and his split from more green-minded Liberal Party colleagues has grown into somewhat of a backbench rebellion. Nationals heavyweight Barnaby Joyce has asked Australia's big-city residents if they are 'prepared to hurt the poor'. Martin Ollman / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia Mr Joyce said on Monday there needed to be more give and take between city-living Australians and their rural and regional counterparts, saying there 'are certain things' the regions could do but do not 'because we're trying to be reasonable'. 'There's absolutely no reason that Mascot Airport can't work 24/7,' he told reporters, flanked by fellow Coalition rebels and disgruntled community members. 'But we understand that people don't want planes flying over themselves in the middle of the night … but we don't want transmission lines over our head either. 'We don't want wind towers either, so there's got to be a form of good pro quo.' Mr Joyce said the question 'affluent suburbs' needed to be asked was: 'Are you prepared to hurt the poor?' 'Are you prepared to hurt them and I don't think if you really explain the issue that people do want to hurt them,' he said. 'You don't feel virtuous if you're hurting people.' Former Nationals leaders Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack are calling for Australia's net-zero target to be abandoned. Martin Ollman / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia Mr Joyce's Bill proposes to abandon Australia's carbon-neutral target by 2050. The target is in line with goals set by other developed economies, but the task has been complicated by rapid energy demands from emerging economies and global disruptions driven by increased conflicts, such as Russia's war in Ukraine. Among Mr Joyce's supporters gathered outside Parliament House was fellow former Nationals leader Michael McCormack, another hefty voice in the party. Liberal MP Garth Hamilton also joined him, making him the only member of the senior Coalition partner to do so.
