‘Get our act together’: Senior Liberals’ lament over leadership

6 hours ago 4

Australians are worse than disappointed with the Coalition and want the opposition to sort out its internal differences, frontbencher Melissa McIntosh has warned, as leading moderates demand the party retain a net zero commitment but signal willingness to compromise on the time frame.

The junior Coalition partner abandoned its support of net zero emissions over the weekend and instead committed to reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas output in line with a global average, heaping pressure on Opposition Leader Sussan Ley to fall in line.

Leading moderate Andrew Bragg is insisting the Coalition retain a net zero commitment in some form, but is flexible on the date.

McIntosh, the Coalition’s communications spokeswoman, said she was optimistic about the party’s future because of the long history of cooperation between the partners despite rumblings of a potential challenge to Ley’s leadership.

“Australians do want us to sort out our issues quite quickly,” McIntosh told ABC Radio National. “They’re disappointed in us – probably could use stronger words than even disappointed – and want us to get our act together.”

McIntosh, who is in the same Sussan Ley’s centre-right faction, said there was enough goodwill within the Coalition to keep the party together and argued the media was making more of the threats to Ley’s position than was justified.

“It’s a difficult position. It has brought down previous leaders. It’s not an easy issue for the Coalition to deal with, and we have lost many seats across the country.”

“I think it’s a difficult position for her, but with the amount of consultation, I think we’ll get it right in the end, it may be messy on the way.”

In a crisis meeting on Monday morning, Ley’s top lieutenants in the right faction argued the net zero tagline had become too toxic to retain in any form, according to sources familiar with the talks not authorised to speak publicly. Ley’s key ally, centre-right leader Alex Hawke, claimed he had always been sceptical of net zero.

Opposition housing spokesman Andrew Bragg said Australia had to stick to net zero. But in a signal that his faction is open to compromise, Bragg pegged his commitment to the Paris Agreement that he said called for net zero sometime in the second half of this century, rather than by 2050.

“I don’t see how we could walk away from the Paris Agreement. I don’t see how we can walk away from our commitment to reduce emissions. We would be a pariah state,” Bragg told the ABC.

“Obviously, I support Sussan, and I think we need to show leadership now. We can’t backslide. The people of Australia are relying on us to hold this terrible government to account, and deliver policies which are reasonable alternatives,” he said.

“Net zero and the Paris Agreement are not causing the problems in Australia, the problems in Australia have been caused by the Labor Party’s terrible electricity and energy policies.”

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