Jane Hume laments ‘crazy’ net zero debate as Liberals race towards crunch talks

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Liberal senator Jane Hume has lamented what she called the crazy and binary opposition debate over the “net zero” catchphrase as energy spokesman Dan Tehan spruiks a possible compromise between the warring Coalition parties.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley will haul her MPs back to Canberra on Wednesday next week for a crunch meeting to land the energy policy. A Liberals-only meeting of shadow ministers will follow on Thursday and a joint meeting of Liberals and Nationals on November 16.

Senator Jane Hume with a necklace made from Minties wrappers during question time last week.

The opposition leader has been wedged between conservatives who want to kill off the target of reducing net emissions to nothing by 2050 and moderates such as Hume who are willing to pare back the pledge but retain net zero in some form in an ongoing commitment to the Paris Agreement.

Hume admitted the Nationals, who jumped ahead of the Liberals last weekend by ditching net zero altogether, had been more organised than anticipated and left the Liberals “a little flat-footed”, fuelling a week of turmoil.

The key sticking point is the use of the term “net zero”. There is little disagreement in the Coalition about how unrealistic Labor’s goals to meet the pledge seem to be or about the use of nuclear power.

“Net zero itself has turned into this sort of totemic phrase, this sort of binary issue – are you pro net zero or anti-net zero? – which I think is just crazy,” Hume told this masthead’s Inside Politics podcast.

“Everybody wants to reduce emissions. Net zero has somehow become this euphemism for whether you believe in man-made climate change.”

The Victorian senator, dropped from Ley’s frontbench after the election, appeared to back a compromise position put forward by her moderate ally Andrew Bragg. He has argued that by remaining in the Paris Agreement, which even the Nationals want, the Coalition can retain an aspiration to a net zero future, even if it is post-2050.

“We have already signed up to the Paris Agreement,” Hume said. “And even the National Party have said that they want to maintain our Paris commitments. Paris commitments mean that each country chooses its own adventure to reducing emissions.”

This option and others were contemplated at a meeting of the Liberal Party’s energy working group on Wednesday, when Nationals leader David Littleproud briefed Liberals.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley talks to energy spokesman Dan Tehan on Thursday.

Tehan is running this group, whose lengthy deliberations have tested the patience of MPs across factions. Ley’s office, as well as deputy leader Ted O’Brien and finance spokesman James Paterson, have thrown their weight into the policy development process over the past few days.

The Morrison-era minster is working on a proposal that will include more gas, a slower renewables rollout and focus on proven and unproven technologies in nuclear, carbon capture and storage and potentially high efficiency, low emissions coal.

Tehan told this masthead: “There’s a great deal of understanding in the discussions. We’re trying to thread a needle and I think there is enough goodwill for us to be able to reach accommodation between the parties.”

“Everyone believes cheaper energy has to be the No.1 priority, that energy abundance is essential, and that we’ve got to take emissions reduction seriously. That to me is a very good place to start.”

The meeting next Wednesday will focus on “a set of principles for endorsement and ... a set of ‘open questions’ for discussion and resolution”, as well as a research presentation from federal director Andrew Hirst, according to a memo from Ley sent to MPs.

“All parliamentarians will be enfranchised to speak,” it said.

Three Liberals and three Nationals will come together after next week’s meetings with the intent of harmonising the parties’ policies and avoiding a split.

The saga over energy has cast doubt on Ley’s leadership and served as a proxy battle over her position and the direction of the battered Coalition.

Hume said Ley had the right leadership style to navigate a tricky debate but acknowledged “I don’t know her particularly well” despite serving in frontbench positions together for years.

“Sussan is a very calm person,” Hume said. “She’s got the right temperament.”

“It’s not an easy thing to navigate. Energy policy has taken down leaders before … but I think she’s stuck to her guns, and I admire her for that.”

Hume said she “absolutely” wanted to be back on the frontbench.

Wrapping up question time for the fortnight, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese launched a set piece attack on the Coalition and spruiked Labor’s agenda on energy despite its failure to bring energy prices down.

“We work with unions and the business community,” he said. “But they treat the Business Council of Australia … as somehow the enemy,” Albanese said in the House of Representatives.

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