3 months ago
17
Andrew Hastie’s call for MPs to consider forcing a double dissolution if the Liberals won the next election and a hostile Senate repeatedly blocked their bill to repeal Labor’s climate target legislation is foolhardy and ill-timed.
The Liberal backbencher made his call to arms during a party meeting to thrash out a position on net zero just one day after the 50th anniversary of the dismissal of Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam by the governor-general John Kerr reminded Australians of the fragility of democracy.
Senator Jessica Collins, opposition minister for defence Angus Taylor, Senator Sarah Henderson, Member for Canning Andrew Hastie, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, together with other Liberal MPs and senators, arrive for a Liberal party room meeting at Parliament House in Canberra.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Hastie’s latest gaff followed his resignation from the shadow ministry last month claiming leader Sussan Ley had excluded him from any role in formulating immigration policy – he had previously retooled part of Enoch Powell’s dreadful and racist 1968 “Rivers of Blood” speech – and his double dissolution thought bubble is both a pipe dream and a distraction from Liberal attempts to achieve common ground on the issue of net zero.
Wednesday’s meeting of Liberal MPs and senators is only the first of three meetings organised to resolve the Coalition’s emissions policy and was called by Ley against the backdrop of moderates threatening to quit and conservatives pushing to reclaim influence.
In any case, the Liberals’ internal battle over net zero is also about more than simply offering a viable alternative to Labor policies. As One Nation rises, and with conservative voters turning to independents and minor parties, the Liberals are hopelessly wedged between trying to retake old homelands in Sydney and Melbourne and holding ground as One Nation rises, and conservative voters turn to independents and minor parties.
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Labor won a record 94 seats out of 150 in the House of Representatives in May’s federal election. The Coalition holds only 43 seats between the Liberals and Nationals combined, with the Liberals decimated in urban electorates. A root-and-branch party review being led by Queensland senator James McGrath is still to be delivered, but that has not stopped Liberal MPs brawling publicly after the Nationals dumped net zero.
The turmoil has blinded some MPs to the optics of disunity: Liberals opposed to net zero, Hastie, Angus Taylor, Sarah Henderson and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and nine others formed a grinning phalanx as they entered the party meeting room.
Speakers voiced various positions: Michaelia Cash urged to dump net zero and pointed to the Coalition success in defeating the Voice to parliament referendum in 2023; Julian Leeser said voters, particularly younger ones, would not take the Coalition seriously if it dropped net zero; party federal director Andrew Hirst presented research showing voters associated the term “net zero” with credible climate action, but support dropped off as voters consider power prices.
MPs met for four hours and although no vote was taken, the Herald believes a clear majority favoured dumping net zero. The new policy will be announced by Sussan Ley after Liberal frontbenchers meet today to finalise the party’s position. Whatever the outcome, Hastie’s ill-judged comments will be used to remind voters that he is still not a sure leadership bet.
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