By Dominic Giannini, Aap
The Nationals’ net-zero commitment has been effectively reaffirmed despite a push to scrap the policy, but the debate has drawn internal and external criticism.
Party leader David Littleproud said he was not against the move to renewables, but it needed to be balanced with coal and gas during the transition to avoid putting too much of the cost onto regional Australians.
“We shouldn’t put all our energy eggs in one basket,“ he told reporters in Canberra.
“There’s a place for renewable energy, (but) tearing up remnant vegetation and tearing up prime agricultural land, tearing away our food security and driving up your food costs is not the place to do it.“
Mr Littleproud staved off an internal push at the Nationals federal conference over the weekend to scrap the policy of net-zero emissions by 2050.
Conservative elements of the party were overruled when their motion to abolish the policy was amended to call on the parliamentary partyroom to “take a practical approach“ to emissions reduction and ensure policies don’t negatively impact farmers.
Conservatives accused moderates from Liberal-aligned Queensland inner-city seats of stacking the vote against regional Nationals who failed to pass the original motion.
This has been disputed by other party members who said inner-city voters included lifetime party members who had moved from the regions after retiring and pointed to the fact the motion was resoundingly defeated anyway.
The Queensland LNP is a single merged party with internal deals dividing electorates between members who decide to sit in the Nationals or Liberal party rooms in Canberra.
The conservatives are also pushing for a federal partyroom vote on the issue as they argue the Barnaby Joyce-brokered deal with Scott Morrison to support net-zero in exchange for a multi-billion dollar fund isn’t automatically woven into any new coalition agreement.
There is partyroom confusion about whether the Joyce-Morrison deal still stands, with some arguing the circumstances have changed with Labor’s policy in government.
But senior party members say election policy is automatically rolled over and operates until changes are announced.
Mr Joyce spoke against the net-zero policy, seconding the motion that originated in his electorate at the conference.
