The divisions within the Liberals on climate and energy policy are “no secret”, senior frontbencher Anne Ruston has admitted, as the party braces for an internal brawl on net zero and nuclear power that could fracture the Coalition.
The commitment from the new Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, to review its entire policy agenda has raised the prospect the Coalition could abandon net zero by 2050, ending bipartisan political support for the long-term climate target.
On Sunday, the rightwing Liberal senator Alex Antic intensified his push to dump the goal, claiming it was the “only way this party is going to appeal to the electorate”.
His new party room colleague Jacinta Nampijinpa Price meanwhile blamed net zero for causing the cost-of-living crisis in a weekend interview with the Australian.
The comments set the stage for a heated internal contest as competing forces attempt to pull the party in different directions in the wake of its devastating election defeat.
Speaking on ABC’s Insiders program, Ruston – the Liberals’ deputy leader in the Senate – admitted the party was split on climate and energy policy.
“Emissions reduction is an important part of policy going forward because energy is the economy and we need to get the policy right,” the South Australian senator said.
“But there’s no secret there is a divergence of views in our party room about how we achieve that. But right now, I absolutely think the thing we need to concentrate on is making sure that people can afford their power bills.”
Former prime minister Scott Morrison signed the Liberals and Nationals up to net zero by 2050 in late 2021 as he sought to defuse criticism of the government’s climate action policies.
A rump inside the Nationals was always opposed to net zero, with the junior Coalition partner only signing up after securing a swag of concessions – including an extra spot in cabinet.
But the postmortem to the opposition’s 3 May election defeat has exposed tensions inside the Liberal party as well, leaving its support for what the climate minister, Chris Bowen, described as the “bare minimum” policy hanging in the balance.
The tussle over net zero is tied to a parallel debate over nuclear power and whether the opposition should abandon its proposal to build taxpayer-funded reactors across the country.
Guardian Australia understands the Nationals leader, David Littleproud, is under pressure from colleagues to secure a commitment to nuclear power before signing a new Coalition agreement with the Liberals.
Liberal sources confirmed Ley would resist such a move after assuring colleagues that there would be extensive consultation before any policies were settled.
On Sunday, Ruston said policy positions should be thrashed out in the Liberal and National party rooms rather than enshrined in Coalition agreements.
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The agreements – which are always secret – include a formula that dictates the number of frontbench positions the Liberals and Nationals are entitled to.
Ruston and the new deputy Liberal leader, Ted O’Brien, hoped the two parties would remain in a Coalition as they rebuild from the election.
“The Liberal party and the National party are at their strongest when they are in a Coalition and they’re working together. That’s proven to be the case over many, many years, and it will continue to be the case,” O’Brien told Sky News on Sunday.
As reported in Guardian Australia, some Liberal MPs are comfortable lifting the federal moratorium on nuclear power, but want to rethink the idea of taxpayer-funded reactors.
The supposed $600bn price tag for the power plants, and what government services could be cut to fund them, was the focal point of Labor’s anti-nuclear attacks during the campaign.
O’Brien would not concede his signature policy was a mistake, acknowledging only that voters “did not accept what the Coalition was offering across its policy suite”.
However, he confirmed the option of lifting the nuclear ban and then leaving the private sector to decide if it wanted to invest was a “proposition that might come to the table”.
“That proposition and all propositions will be duly considered. We won’t be rushing to any conclusions.”
