Barnaby Joyce has vowed to introduce a private member's bill to repeal Australia's target of net zero emissions by 2050, describing the policy as a 'lunatic crusade' that is 'treacherous' to national security. The former deputy prime minister made the announcement in a Facebook post on Friday afternoon, laying bare the Coalition's ongoing internal divisions over climate and energy policy.
Joyce, a Nationals backbencher and long-time climate sceptic, wrote that 'there is no more time to assess, to ponder, to nuance or to amend. Net zero must be repealed.' He claimed Australia was harming itself without 'authentic' participation from other countries. The bill will be tabled when parliament resumes later this month, though it is not guaranteed to be debated and is unlikely to receive full opposition support.
The opposition, which holds only 43 of 150 seats after May's federal election, is conducting an internal review of its election policies, with climate change expected to be a central ideological battleground. Joyce and Queensland colleague Matt Canavan have long campaigned against the target, while some Liberals, including shadow home affairs minister Andrew Hastie, have expressed renewed scepticism.
Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan told Guardian Australia in June that the cost of reaching net zero would be a major factor in the Coalition's decision to retain it. Meanwhile, the former NSW energy minister Matt Kean, now chair of the Climate Change Authority, urged the Liberal party to return to 'rational decisions based on engineering, economics and science', warning that anything else was 'a road to ruin'.
Former prime minister Scott Morrison, who adopted the net zero target in 2021 after tense negotiations with Joyce, defended the policy as necessary to attract investment capital. The Coalition has since walked back plans for government-owned nuclear power plants as part of its emissions reduction strategy.
