Daily London
Federal MPs are scheduled to officially vote on abandoning the target mandate of 2050 in a party room meeting today.
Nationals leader David Littleproud said he is confident the Coalition will agree that net zero is not the only way to reduce emissions.
“It’s an expensive way. It’s going to cost $9 trillion. It’s going to put things like Medicare at risk,” Littleproud told Today ahead of the meeting.
“But there are alternative ways to do our bit in a fair and equitable way in terms of global emissions.
“We’re not deniers, we believe in climate change. And there’s a way through this that Australians can afford at the moment.”
A motion at a grassroots meeting for the party to “abandon its support for a net zero mandate” was passed yesterday.
Littleproud said he hoped the Liberals “will come with us” on the decision to scrap the target.
“We want to be constructive, not destructive,” he added.
He couldn’t confirm if Joyce would be attending today.
“He’s still a member of the National Party. And if this is something that he’s obviously been very passionate about, but we’ve had a long-held process since the election that he agreed to and everyone agreed to,” he said.
“So the invitation is there, and if he turns up, he’s more than welcome. I’m sure he’ll make a very large contribution.”
The former deputy prime minister has snubbed the Nationals after saying he will not re-contest his seat at the 2028 election.
“I’m not going to attend any party room that believes in net zero,” Joyce told reporters in Canberra.
He suggested he may remain with the party if it dumps its net-zero target.
“I’ll see what they come up with,” Joyce said.
