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Nationals frontbencher Barnaby Joyce has failed in his bid to secure broader grassroots support to abolish the party\u2019s policy of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, in a fiery free-wheeling debate on the floor of the Nationals Federal Conference.<\/p>\n
At the conference in Canberra on Saturday attended by more than 100 National Party delegates, Joyce supported a motion that called on the federal party room to \u201cabolish its policy of net zero by 2050 and adopt a policy that will reduce Australia\u2019s CO2 emissions in collaboration with the rest of the world\u201d.<\/p>\n
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Nationals frontbencher Barnaby Joyce (right) is pushing to abolish the party\u2019s support for net zero emissions by 2050, putting him at odds with Leader David Littleproud and the broader Coalition.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Alex Ellinghausen<\/cite><\/p>\n But amid a flurry of proposed amendments, points of order, assertions of wrong procedure and mass confusion, the motion was gutted to remove any reference to abolishing net zero with majority support from the floor.<\/p>\n Joyce, who was backed by Nationals senator Matt Canavan in objecting to the motion being changed, argued on the conference floor that the move to net zero was the \u201cmost substantive change to the economics of this nation\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201dI think we have an obligation to discuss it. We can\u2019t be hiding from our own shadow. We know what\u2019s going on. What is happening is our lives, especially in New England, have been turned upside down,\u201d Joyce, the MP for the NSW electorate of New England, said.<\/p>\n However, several delegates raised furious objections to the push to jettison the climate change target, saying it would undermine the Coalition\u2019s push to embrace nuclear energy and scupper its chances of winning the next election.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the eyes of many Australians, we will look indecisive and even recalcitrant if we flip on net zero now, and if we do, if we\u2019re really that careless, we would hand the Albanese government a quiver of arrows that they would fire on us again and again and again,\u201d Mitchell Dickens, a delegate from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, said.<\/p>\n The conference will instead continue debating on Sunday a re-worked motion that called for a \u201cpractical approach to lowering carbon emissions as a substantive move to nuclear power is made\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking earlier on Saturday to media, Nationals Leader David Littleproud dismissed rampant speculation that the original Joyce-backed motion was designed to destabilise his leadership. Asked whether he supported abandoning net zero, Littleproud said, \u201cnot at this stage unless there\u2019s some other alternative\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the net zero commitment we\u2019ve got at the moment is vastly different to what the National Party signed up to. Labor\u2019s net zero is a lot different, and we shouldn\u2019t conflate the two. They\u2019re vastly different because they have accelerated that pathway from effectively 2050 to 2030,\u201d Littleproud said.<\/p>\n But he kept the door open to the debate being revived in the Nationals party room.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t seen or envisage any change in our party room policy. But if it comes, then we\u2019ll have that debate with the information that\u2019s put ahead in front of us,\u201d Littleproud said.<\/p>\n Speaking to the media outside the conference, Joyce said he had \u201cno interest\u201d in returning to the leadership.<\/p>\n The prospect of the Nationals reviving a bitter debate over net zero has rattled federal Liberals, especially moderate MPs. As Nationals leader, Joyce cut a net zero deal in 2021 with then-prime minister Scott Morrison to back the climate target in exchange for an extra seat for the Nationals cabinet and a package of measures for regional Australia.<\/p>\n But the tepid support for the target among Joyce and his allies in the Nationals party room, combined with the preceding years of climate policy wars within the Coalition, is widely recognised as having contributed to the loss of six inner-city blue-ribbon Liberal seats to the teal MPs who campaigned on strong climate action.<\/p>\n Liberal Leader Peter Dutton reaffirmed his commitment to net zero on Friday, saying \u201cwe won\u2019t be departing from it\u201d.<\/p>\n The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. <\/i><\/b>Sign up here<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nMost Viewed in Politics<\/h2>\n
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