‘Binary argument’: Liberals seek last-minute compromise on net zero debate

3 months ago 9

Top moderate and conservative Liberals have made a flurry of last-minute calls to avoid a damaging split on climate change, as failed Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian sent an email to frontbenchers warning the party that it faces perpetual opposition if it dumps net zero.

Right-wingers, including Angus Taylor, James Paterson, and Simon Kennedy, have held high-level discussions over the last two days with Moderate leaders Anne Ruston, Andrew Bragg, and Maria Kovacic. Deputy leader Ted O’Brien and energy spokesman Dan Tehan have also been involved, according to four MPs familiar with the talks but unable to speak publicly.

Liberal moderates Maria Kovacic, Tim Wilson and Anne Ruston.

Spooked by the prospect of resignations if net zero is dumped entirely, the MPs have discussed whether the party’s energy policy could retain an aspiration to achieve net zero after 2050 as part of remaining in the Paris Agreement.

Another possibility would be allowing Moderates to use their own pro-net zero language in press conferences or interviews if asked in general terms about a carbon-neutral future.

Some in the Right are open to a compromise, but Paterson, an influential member of the Right, wants everyone in the party to back the decision the Coalition settles on. He has argued that it must be tenable for Opposition Leader Sussan Ley to clearly answer questions on the party’s policy.

Shadow Minister for Small Business, and Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations and Employment, Tim Wilson arrives at Parliament House.

“This is a binary argument: we either support net zero or we do not,” he has told colleagues.

One Moderate said they were optimistic the last-ditch talks on a compromise could be fruitful, but other MPs were less hopeful they could all agree.

“I think we’ll get a landing: common sense will prevail, how can you be in Paris and be against net zero?” one Moderate said.

Moderate frontbenchers Tim Wilson and Andrew Bragg are considering resigning their shadow ministries if net zero is dumped, with Wilson believing he would need to focus on holding on to the only inner-urban Liberal seat, Goldstein, if the party weakened commitment to climate change.

Opposition finance spokesman James Paterson.

Ley’s authority would be compromised if the key Moderates who supported her leadership bid went to the backbench.

Entering parliament on Wednesday morning, Wilson said: “There’s an alternative choice, which is we just end up being a National Party-lite, or we can define the future of this country.”

Liberals are assembling for a party room meeting where MPs will speak in alphabetical order. On Thursday, Liberal frontbenchers will meet to finalise a party policy, followed by consultation with the Nationals, who oppose net zero, before a joint party meeting on Sunday.

Two of Ley’s trusted colleagues briefed this masthead that they had formed the view Ley was comfortable dumping the 2050 pledge. Both have discussed energy policy with Ley but sought anonymity.

Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian is seeking to have the result overturned.

Ley has kept her cards close to her chest, angering colleagues who have wanted her to lead the debate. Wednesday’s meeting will not go to a vote, but is expected to come to a general agreement on net zero.

Kapterian, who narrowly lost the inner Sydney seat of Bradfield, emailed shadow ministers ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, warning that scrapping the net zero target would consign the Liberal Party to perpetual opposition.

Kapterian emailed shadow ministers ahead of a crunch meeting of the Liberal Party room at which the 2050 climate target is expected to be dumped in favour of a new emissions reduction pledge.

“My experience on the ground is that a credible, technology-focused climate policy is essential to securing the many discerning voters in key urban and suburban seats,” Kapterian, who lost by 26 votes, said in the email, first reported by the Australian Financial Review.

“Without these seats, mathematically, we cannot win government, nor, from a principled perspective, should a party of government be incapable of capturing these seats.”

Kapterian said she supported the use of nuclear energy to reach net zero, a slogan she said was important to keep as “a proxy for how seriously we take our commitment to a sustainable future”.

“That language is not a proxy for the ALP’s commitment to continuing unaffordable energy prices, inefficient subsidies, and the degradation of our natural environment. Furthermore, the outcome of the last election shows that our commitment to net zero was not an electoral drag in the seats we hold today.”