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Western Australia’s major conservative parties will follow in the footsteps of their federal colleagues and drop a net zero emissions by 2050 ambition from their policy platforms.
The WA Nationals backed their federal colleagues and voted against a net zero ambition at a party room meeting on Friday.
WA Nationals leader Shane Love.Credit: Holly Thompson
WA Nationals leader Shane Love said the party still supported the principles of the Paris Climate Change agreement, but said the Albanese government’s pursuit of net zero was hurting regional communities.
“We believe in the science which proves global warming, and we believe in playing our part in reducing it – but not with policies that make everyday life harder for families, businesses, and regional towns,” he said.
“We are suddenly in a situation in which we are destroying the environment to save the environment.
“The burden always seems to swing back on regional communities, and they are now hurting alongside everyone else. As the voice of reason for rural WA, we have a responsibility to do the right thing.
“Power bills are going through the roof; thousands of people are being laid off and huge tracts of bushland and farmland are being cleared for renewable energy zones, which threaten regional livelihoods.”
Emissions in WA have increased 17 per cent since 2004-05 to 89.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2022-23, driven largely by the growth in mining and gas export industries.
Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley announced yesterday a future Liberal government would change the law to remove Labor’s existing target to cut emissions by at least 62 per cent by 2035 and reach net zero by 2050.
That promise would breach the conditions of the Australian commitment to the Paris Agreement.
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The Liberals’ policy document said the party would still reduce emissions year-on-year, but it would adopt a technology-neutral approach supporting gas, allowing nuclear energy and preventing the premature closure of coal plants.
The WA Liberals also look set to agree with the position of their federal colleagues leader Basil Zempilas backing the position Ley’s team arrived at.
This was despite Zempilas just last week calling anyone who didn’t see the link between net zero and the Liberals’ election woes “mugs”.
“I’m also a very firm believer that phrase, those two words ... for a lot of people have come to mean being kind to the environment, recycling more, less emissions going into the atmosphere, and so to turn your back on it completely would not be smart and would not be sensible,” Zempilas told Radio 6PR last week.
“It would especially not be smart or sensible for somebody in my position, having witnessed the two election results that I witnessed earlier this year, only a mug – only a mug – would not heed the lessons of two elections back-to-back.”
Zempilas’ language was more tempered on Thursday, but he pointed to his use of the word “completely”.
“A number of publications have written the exchange, and I say, ‘To walk away from that ambition completely’,” he said.
“The word ‘completely’ is there, and that was because it was very important that there was emission reductions ambition in whatever position our federal colleagues landed on.
“I’m very pleased to see that it remains a cornerstone to their approach, and therefore it remains a cornerstone to our approach here in Western Australia, because that’s what the people of Western Australia have told me that they want to see.
“We have always championed reliable, affordable and sustainable energy, but not at any cost. And I’m pleased to see that that appears to be where our federal colleagues have landed.”
WA Premier Roger Cook said he wanted to know where Zempilas stood when it came to protecting the state’s environment.
“We are all committed to net zero by 2050, it’s important for our community, it’s important for our environment, it’s important for the globe, and I’m just appalled that the Liberal Party will turn their back on future generations of Australians by abandoning their commitment to net zero by 2050,” he said.
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