Liberals’ net zero meeting: Party fails to reveal final position on climate policy after marathon meeting

The Liberals are set to dump the party’s backing for net zero after a marathon nearly-five-hour meeting of Federal MPs in Canberra.

Shadow ministers will meet on Thursday morning to formally approve the party’s new policy before the Liberals negotiate a joint Coalition position with the Nationals.

The policy will place a primacy on affordable power for households and businesses.

This will include opening up more gas supply, sweating existing ageing coal-fired power stations and lifting the ban on nuclear power.

It will continue to oppose “sneaky carbon taxes” including any moves by Labor to institute carbon tariffs on imports to Australia – similar to those already imposed by European countries.

But the party is still expected to remain committed to the Paris Agreement after a set of guiding principles distributed by shadow energy minister Dan Tehan said Australia “will do our fair share to reduce emissions, without legislating mandates or legislating interim targets”.

“Our energy policy will prioritise affordable, reliable energy for all Australians. Our emissions reduction policy must not compromise our primary goal of energy affordability and abundance,” Mr Tehan’s list of principles said.

The decision comes nearly two weeks after the Liberals’ junior coalition partner, the National Party, scrapped its commitment to Australia achieving net zero emissions by 2050, and decided to scale back the rate of the country’s emissions cuts by about half.

It’s a win for conservative elements in the party who have been agitating on the issue for months.

Moderates have fought back more recently, warning of a backlash among voters who have already abandoned the party in droves.

In a show of force ahead of the meeting, more than a dozen conservative MPs – including would-be leadership contenders Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor, side by side – walked in en masse with broad smiles on their faces.

On departing, Mr Hastie and fellow conservative James Paterson shook hands in front of the cameras.

Leader Sussan Ley arrived at the room flanked by Tasmanian senator Richard Colbeck — a contrast with previous meetings when she has been accompanied by several supporters.

There was no movement on her leadership on Wednesday, despite earlier chatter of a showdown.

Her deputy, Ted O’Brien, arrived alone.

Liberal Party federal director Andrew Hirst briefed MPs on the political and electoral implications of their climate and energy policy before they got into individual contributions.

He told them the majority of the public sees “net zero” as a proxy for climate action – an argument that has also been made by others such as moderate senator Jane Hume.

He also laid out arguments that research showed could help to sway soft voters, such as on power prices, according to sources inside the room.

But it’s understood the intention wasn’t to dictate the decision the party room made, but rather to help inform it.

Leading conservative figures told the meeting the party should scrap all legislation and bureaucracy that Labor had set up to work towards equalising emissions by 2050.

They included Mr Hastie, who argued a future Coalition government should be “all in” and prepared to go to a double dissolution election over the repeal if necessary.

Shadow minister Angus Taylor and Senate leader Michaelia Cash also called for the target to be scrapped.

After four hours and 45 minutes, with contributions made in alphabetical order, there were 28 who spoke against net zero, 17 in favour of keeping the target and four whose positions were unclear.

Ms Ley did not outline her personal position to the meeting.

“My job now is to respect what was said in the room today, to now take that away form a shadow ministerial paper, take that to the shadow ministry tomorrow, and then myself and Sussan will formally announce our policy after that meeting tomorrow,” Mr Tehan said on Wednesday evening.

“I still think, and have always thought, right throughout this process, that it is possible for us to unite, and that’s my job now tonight, is to go away and do that, and then what you will hear tomorrow is our formal policy.

“Through all the contributions in the room today, everyone, again, struck an accord by saying we have to come together, we have to have a policy, and then we’ve all got to unite behind that policy.”

Most MPs kept quiet upon leaving the meeting.

Ms Ley said it had gone “really well”.

“The shadow ministry will convene tomorrow to resolve our final position. But it was an excellent meeting, and terrific to hear from all of my colleagues,” she said.

Sydney MP Melissa McIntosh said she had stood up for her community “and that’s the best that I can do”.

Redbridge director Tony Barry, a former Liberal strategist, said dumping net zero would no doubt help win back some voters who had left the party to its right flank but it would probably lose people on the left end.

One Nation has soared to a record-high primary vote in recent polls, up to 15 per cent in Newspoll and Essential surveys this month.

Mr Barry said there was a softening in the electorate about the transition to renewable energy because voters aren’t seeing the promises about cheaper power prices eventuate. But he said the problem for the Liberals was that “the Coalition have built a brand around climate denialism over the past decade because the loudest voices have been the dominant narrative”.

“There’s no easy fix or slogan or way to undo that perception problem in the electorate, particularly in the urban seats, and with younger voters,” he said.

“There’s a cohort of voters who do believe in climate change and they want action on climate change. They are a little bit concerned about the prices and the costs, but they also don’t want a politician talking to them in a tone that makes them look like they’re … idiots either, which I think sometimes the Nats can have a habit of.

“In politics how you say something is often just as important as what you are saying.”

Keith Wolohan, widely viewed as a future leader before he lost his seat of Menzies to Labor in May, had warned on Tuesday that those who remained in the room had to think of their responsibility to win back seats like his.

“The Liberal Party has to think very carefully, are the decisions they’re going to make in the next few days, ones that will be read out on panels like this on election night in 2028 saying, ‘oh, we got that wrong’,” he warned.