Fronting the media after a marathon party room meeting on Wednesday, shadow energy minister Dan Tehan said the Liberals’ imminent move to dump net zero policies was built on two foundational principles.
The first was that Australia must have a stable and reliable energy grid with affordable power for households and business. The second required emissions to be reduced in a responsible and transparent way that “ensures Australia does its fair share”.
On both points the party fails the credibility test, with the environment the loser and Labor the biggest winner.
Amid the global energy transition, it is only critics of serious action to curb climate change who argue renewables won’t be part of a stable and reliable energy grid in 2025 and beyond. Overwhelmingly the evidence shows they are a cheaper source of power and will help bring down prices for households and business over time.
In September, researchers at Griffith University demonstrated it in raw numbers. They found the cost of generating electricity would be as much as 50% higher today if Australia had relied solely on coal and gas instead of pursuing renewables.
The study suggested that abandoning green energy would probably lead to higher power bills, as soaring commodity prices, escalating building costs and major advances in clean energy technology meant coal was no longer the cheap energy source it once was.
Treasury’s analysis, commissioned for the Albanese government, said weakening efforts to cut carbon emissions would hurt investment, jobs and the economy, even pushing down real wages by 4% by the middle of the century.
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The dollars in the private market have moved already, with business investing heavily in renewables over fossil fuels, despite years of delay due to Australia’s climate wars.
On the second principle of responsible and transparent emissions reductions, the emerging rhetorical calculation from Liberal MPs suggesting their new position could somehow be in keeping with the Paris climate agreement rings hollow.
Paris requires countries not to go backwards on their emissions targets. Avoiding national targets is also a breach.
There could be no stronger signal of weakening action than abandoning net zero by 2050, considered by all credible environmental campaigners as the bare minimum for avoiding global temperature increases of 1.5C or more.
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Australia won’t be doing its fair share if the Coalition gets back into government and retreats on climate policies. The OECD estimates aggregate emissions across the globe are still about 8% above the level required to meet the globe’s 2030 climate targets, while meeting 2050 goals requires a lot more work.
Labor is of the view that voters have made up their minds on the climate crisis and the party will keep winning elections until the Coalition faces reality. On Wednesday, the Liberal federal director, Andrew Hirst, had a similar message, briefing MPs on internal research about voter attitudes on net zero. He said punters equated net zero with taking action on climate change.
The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, did not speak in Wednesday’s meeting, and looks set to cobble together an anti-net zero policy with the Nationals in the coming days.
One leading moderate conceded more than a few Liberals were “quite despondent” after the talks, with their emerging position too closely resembling that of the Nationals, once again suggesting it is the junior Coalition partner calling the shots.
After a thumping election loss, in part down to the contributions of outspoken climate critics such as Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan, suburban Liberals are once again being hung out to dry by poor leadership.
Some moderates were holding out hope of a surprise result in shadow ministry on Thursday, pointing to better than expected numbers in the broader party room to retain net zero and support on the frontbench for a stronger policy position.
But with net zero gone, the Liberals have failed their own foundational test and abandoned any credible policy for voters and the environment.
