Nationals senator Matt Canavan has been told to "pull his head in" by a colleague, and slapped down by the Prime Minister, after attempting to muddy the waters over the Coalition's climate change commitments in the middle of a tight election race.
The climate cracks within the Coalition have once again been exposed after Senator Canavan, who represents the resource-rich state of Queensland, told the ABC's Afternoon Briefing program "net zero is … dead".
After a long and at times torturous negotiation, the Liberal and National parties struck a deal to adopt the target of achieving net zero emissions by 2050 in the lead-up to last year's Glasgow climate conference.
While Senator Canavan has publicly opposed the commitment, his latest intervention has been described as "unhelpful" and "frustrating" by colleagues who said the comments were aimed at "one or two seats in central Queensland" but could hurt the Coalition's prospects elsewhere.
Campaigning in central Queensland, Mr Morrison said Senator Canavan's views did not represent the government's.
"That is not his party's position, that's not the Coalition's position and it's not the government's position," he said,
"That's his view, it's no surprise, he's held it for a long time, it's been resolved and our policy was set out very clearly."
Standing alongside Mr Morrison, Nationals MP Michelle Landry had a more pointed message for her colleague: "Pull your head in, Matt."
Asked if she supported the net zero policy, Ms Landry said: "Yes, I do".
Former Nationals leader Michael McCormack said Senator Canavan's comments were "not helpful" and argued voters in regional Australia were relieved the long-running issue had been resolved.
"A deal is a deal is a deal," he told RN.
"There are enough sensible people in the National Party to ensure people know we are committed to it."
Victorian Nationals MP Darren Chester — who urged his party to support net zero — said Senator Canavan was wrong and needed to accept he had lost the argument.
"The Coalition worked through this policy over an extended period of time last year to achieve a position of net zero emissions by 2050.
"I am frustrated that we're having this conversation again today because I thought we had resolved this issue."
Labor — which supports net zero by 2050 and has a more ambitious climate change policy than the Coalition — seized on the division.
Queensland Labor senator Murray Watt said it was clear a re-elected Morrison government would walk back from its climate commitments.
"The Liberal and National parties are in open warfare about their net zero emissions policy, in the middle of an election campaign," he said.
"After apparently putting this war to bed over the last few months, it has erupted."
New carbon tax scare campaign
In an attempt to shift the focus away from his side, Mr Morrison appears to be working up a new scare campaign, warning voters about Labor's "sneaky carbon tax".
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has explicitly ruled out a carbon tax but the government is targeting the party's proposed changes to the so-called safeguard mechanism that puts a cap on polluters.
The mechanism was introduced by the Coalition in 2013 and applies to the country's 215 heaviest emitters, requiring them to keep their emissions below a "baseline" level.
They can achieve this by cutting their emissions or offsetting them by buying carbon credits.
Labor is promising to actually enforce the mechanism and revamp it, by lowering the baselines for those same 215 entities, to collectively reduce emissions by 5 million tonnes a year.
Mr Morrison insists the two approaches "couldn't be more different".
"What Labor has is a tax, a sneaky carbon tax and that's not good for regional Australia. It is not good at all," he said.
Labor's campaign spokesman Jason Clare said the comments reek of desperation.
"Tony Abbott apparently created a carbon tax.
"If you believe that, I've got a harbour bridge I'd like to sell you."
Labor has committed to cutting emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, if it wins government, compared with the Coalition's longstanding target of 26 to 28 per cent.
