At least three former Liberal MPs have derided the opposition’s decision to dump net zero by 2050 as an “existential crisis” and “another nail in the coffin” that will guarantee electoral irrelevance for the foreseeable future.
Guardian Australia spoke to the former politicians and previous Liberal party candidates, who say any hopes of reclaiming inner-city and suburban seats at the next election have been dashed as a result of the move.
“This is a recipe for those seats becoming a lot more difficult to ever have a chance of reclaiming,” one former moderate MP said.
After months of protracted meetings and infighting, the Liberal party on Thursday announced it would abandon a legislated net zero emissions target and its commitment to renewable energy projects, while adhering to the Paris agreement – despite an evident contradiction to the accord.
The shadow ministry agreed a future Coalition government would also remove Labor’s legislated 43% emissions reduction target by 2030, and its 82% renewables target.
While a detailed energy and emissions reduction policy hasn’t been released, the opposition said its approach would be “technology agnostic” and include a mix of coal, gas, hydro, batteries, renewables and potentially nuclear.
The shadow housing minister, Andrew Bragg, defended the decision but acknowledged the Paris agreement requires a government to set ambitious emissions reduction targets.
“Emissions reduction is important to us as is getting lower prices and more abundant energy,” the prominent moderate senator told Sky News.
“So, I guess we’re trying to achieve those things simultaneously, rather than just choose one narrow objective which the government have pursued.”
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The decision to dump net zero follows the party’s worst electoral defeat in 80 years, leaving a single Liberal MP – Goldstein’s Tim Wilson – as its only inner-city representative across the country.
The result followed the 2022 election, when six independents were elected over long-serving Liberal MPs – including in traditionally blue ribbon seats – on pro-climate, integrity and gender equality platforms.
Another former MP, who lost their seat to Labor in May, said the outcome had “existential crisis vibes”, and signalled the Coalition agreement had undermined the Liberal party’s identity.
“I think you can already see what the corflutes are going to say at the next election,” they said.
“I think what should happen is that the Coalition should [only] exist to form government, but you’ve got to have your separate identities, separate policies.”
A well known Liberal candidate, who will not run again, said it was “just another nail in the coffin of the party”.
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“Yesterday guaranteed losing the votes of everybody under the age of 50 in one fell swoop,” they said.
“If they think the party’s got a future by behaving like that, they’re sorely mistaken. It might appease the 80-plus-year-olds that are still lingering around in a lot of the branches, but it’s a party without soul. It’s a party without a future.”
The former moderate Liberal MP Keith Wolahan, who lost his seat to Labor this year, said debate on climate change and emissions reduction has been “mostly driven by emotion and virtue signalling”.
“Unless the Liberal party in the Coalition wins more metro seats, it will always be a voice in opposition only, and I don’t think that’s in the country’s interest,” Wolahan told Sky News.
But the former Liberal MP Lucy Wicks, whose attempt to return to federal politics failed at the May election, said the policy announcement showed the party was “beginning to stand up for a purpose”, even if it does not win them seats.
“I don’t know what that could mean for us at the next election, but the most important thing we can do as a party is demonstrate to our community that we have a vision for Australia’s future and to bring people with us on that journey,” she said.
“It’s not just about power, [or] about winning for winning’s sake. Politics has also got to be about purpose.”
The Liberal-aligned thinktank Blueprint Institute commissioned polling by YouGov in August on voter attitudes towards the Coalition.
The poll surveyed 5,007 voters and found 52% of former Coalition voters said they “would only consider a party ready to govern if they have credible policies to address climate change and its impacts”.
