Federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says she loves it when people express strong views after three of her Coalition colleagues urged her to dump support for Australia’s pledge to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
Rifts have emerged in the Coalition after Andrew Hastie said he would quit the front bench if Ley supported the climate target, with South Australian Liberal MP Tony Pasin and Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan backing the demands.
Sussan Ley at the CEDA event in Melbourne.Credit: Chris Hopkins
Opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan is leading a review of the Coalition’s climate policies.
Speaking at a CEDA lunch in Melbourne on Wednesday, Ley did not directly address whether these public statements undermined her leadership but said her team was united in wanting to get their energy policy right.
“All of my colleagues are participating in the discussion on energy right now, as they should,” she said. “I love it when people have strong views and express them because they’re coming from the people they’re listening to.”
“You get the best possible outcome in decision-making, where you harness those ideas, and you listen closely.”
Ley said the Coalition’s energy policy would be underpinned by the need to have a reliable grid delivering affordable energy to households and businesses, and that Australia would play its role in reducing emissions responsibly and transparently.
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She said the shadow cabinet and the broader party room discussed the topic “with passion and determination” about protecting Australian industry.
“It is one of the factors of productivity in this country that is dragging our economy backwards, and that’s something that my colleagues and I agree with wholeheartedly,” Ley said.
“I’ve said, and others have said, that we will not have net zero at any cost, because the cost can be too high. And right now, it looks like the cost is too high when you consider what this government is about to do with its Paris targets … I’ll hold that conversation until they actually make their announcement.”
Tehan is currently in the US examining nuclear technology, a form of power generation that the Coalition took to the last election.
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