Peter Dutton has rejected a push within the Nationals to overturn the commitment to net zero by 2050, warning the Coalition “won’t be departing” from the policy after Barnaby Joyce labelled the cost “utterly untenable”.
The Liberal leader told Radio National on Friday he was not concerned by Joyce’s intervention because there is “strong support for net zero” within the Coalition for the policy he had “recommitted to”.
On Wednesday Guardian Australia revealed Joyce’s federal electorate council in New England had submitted a motion to this weekend’s Nationals conference calling on the parliamentary party room to “abolish its policy of net zero by 2050 and adopt a policy that will reduce Australia’s CO2 emissions in collaboration with the rest of the world”.
The new motion – which some party sources interpret as a strategic strike intended to destabilise David Littleproud’s leadership – has alarmed moderate Liberals because the Nationals abandoning net zero would reopen an acrimonious internal Coalition discussion about climate policy.
Although Joyce insists he is not responsible for the motion, on Thursday he inflamed the issue by warning that the estimated $7-$9tn cost of net zero was “completely and utterly untenable”, likening it to the Marshall plan after the second world war.
The Nationals agreed to net zero in October 2021 while Joyce was leader after the prime minister at the time, Scott Morrison, made it clear ahead of UN-led climate talks in Glasgow that he wanted that target to be government policy.
Asked about Joyce’s comments on Friday, Dutton told Radio National: “No [it doesn’t concern me], there’s strong support for net zero. It’s a policy that we took to the last election. I’ve recommitted to it. We won’t be departing from it.
“I believe very strongly we need to have a proper debate about how we credibly reduce emissions in this country.”
The opposition leader warned that emissions reduction is struggling after the New South Wales Labor government “signed up to the extension of coal-fire power” and South Australia had moved manufacturing offshore to countries with “higher emissions”.
He claimed nuclear energy could help firm up renewable electricity, citing Canada, France “and many other countries, over 50 countries now, so they see it as their only credible pathway to emissions reductions”.
The Coalition has opposed Albanese government policies to help achieve net zero, including legislating the interim target of 43% emissions reduction by 2030 and the safeguard mechanism to slash emissions from big polluters. It is yet to present an alternative pathway to net zero.
Despite the Coalition’s support for small modular nuclear reactors, the opposition has not released a policy explaining how to make the industry cost effective, the contribution from taxpayers and the timeframe for rollout.
Dutton claimed that internal polling revealed a “shift” in support for nuclear, which he described as “strong … particularly with younger people who are well read on zero emissions [and the potential for] nuclear technology being able to firm up wind and solar and, you know, support hydrogen and other emerging technologies”.
Response from federal Nationals to the New England motion was mixed on Thursday.
The leader of the Nationals in the Senate, Bridget McKenzie, added fuel to the controversy by noting net zero is “pretty expensive” and accusing Labor of carpeting regional areas with solar panels and transmission lines.
The deputy Nationals leader, Perin Davey, took a more cautious approach, welcoming a debate at the Nationals conference but noting the importance of keeping access to markets that demand net zero commitments.
