Malcolm Turnbull accuses Liberals of ‘Trumpian campaign against renewables’ after party dumps net zero

Malcolm Turnbull says the Liberals’ decision to dump the 2050 net zero target would tell Australians the party does not take climate change seriously. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh/AAP

The former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull says his party’s decision to dump a net zero emissions target shows it “does not take climate change seriously”, accusing the opposition of “a Trumpian campaign against renewables”.

But while moderate sources are alarmed about the impact on winning back or retaining urban electorates, and climate groups called the backflip a “disaster”, the Liberal decision to scrap its own 2050 target and unwind Labor’s 2035 and renewable energy pledges has been praised by conservative MPs and campaigners.