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A senior member of Sussan Ley’s shadow cabinet has warned he could quit the frontbench if the Coalition does not abandon its support for net zero, in a fresh test of the opposition leader’s authority just days after she sacked senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price.
Western Australian MP Andrew Hastie told ABC Radio Perth on Monday that he would consider quitting the frontbench, or that he could be sacked by Ley because he believes the opposition should dump the targets.
Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie and leader Sussan Ley.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
Ley ordered a review of the Coalition’s climate policy by her energy spokesman, Dan Tehan, after the disastrous 2025 election in which the Peter Dutton-led opposition promised to build up to seven nuclear power stations to meet Australia’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050.
During the interview, he was asked what he would do if Ley kept the Coalition committed to supporting the net zero target and responded, “That leaves me without a job”.
“My primary mission in politics is to build a stronger, more secure, more competitive Australia. Energy security is a vital input into that, so that’s my bottom line,” he told ABC Radio.
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“I’ve nailed my colours to the mast.”
Hastie said Ley had no choice but to demote Price last week because “Jacinta Nampijinpa Price didn’t express support for her leadership, and one of the conditions for serving in the shadow cabinet or the outer ministry is that you support the leader”.
Asked if Ley had his full support, Hastie said: “She has my support … I wouldn’t be sitting here speaking with you as the shadow minister for home affairs”.
While Hastie’s statement about the necessity of Price resigning is factually accurate because of the need to maintain shadow cabinet solidarity, it will also be interpreted by some MPs as provocative and unnecessary just days after the NT senator’s sacking.
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The comments are likely to further stoke tensions within the Coalition over a policy that has divided the party for a decade.
The Albanese government is just days away from unveiling its interim emissions reduction target for 2035 and released the first National Climate Risk Assessment report on Monday, which painted a grim future for the country if global warming continues unabated.
The report warned that climate change-fuelled heatwaves will kill thousands of Australians every year, wipe $611 billion from property values and put 1.5 million homes at risk of rising sea levels.
Like many Coalition MPs, Hastie has been an outspoken critic of the Australia’s commitment to net zero, which was first made by Tony Abbott as prime minister a decade ago and which every subsequent Liberal leader has maintained.
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The home affairs spokesman has been seen as a potential future leader of the Liberal Party since entering politics in 2015 and is a leading light in the party’s hard right or conservative faction.
A spokesman for Ley said “we are committed to the process” of reviewing Coalition climate policy. Hastie declined to comment.
But a colleague and ally of Ley, who asked not to be named so they could speak freely, was scathing about Hastie’s intervention.
“For a bloke who thinks that he can be a future leader, he has picked a hell of a day to say he will die on the hill of net zero,” that person said.
“Millions of Australians were just warned about the potentially catastrophic impacts of climate change and he is saying to them ‘I don’t give a stuff’.”
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