Australian news and politics live: Ley considering dumping Liberals’ commitment to net zero

Four years after then-prime minister Scott Morrison promised at a climate summit in Glasgow Australia would stop emitting Greenhouse gases on a net basis, the Liberal Party is heading in the opposition direction.

Leader Sussan Ley’s unconfirmed-but-well reported decision to accept her deputies’ advice and cancel the party’s net-zero commitment could save her job, her credibility and the Coalition.

Just like Nationals MPs, who took the same step on Sunday, many Liberals blame the policy for high and rising energy prices, driven by the billions required to rebuild transmission networks and install batteries to provide electricity when solar and wind power is not working.

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Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young has criticised the Coalition as a “clown show” over their energy policy division.

“What a bunch of climate-denying rabble, attention-seeking, knuckle draggers some of these blokes are over on this side of the Chamber,” she said in an impassioned speech to the Senate.

She accused the Coalition of pulling a “handlebrake of climate action” and ignoring security and climate advice when Australians “already felt the brunt” of climate change.

“And what is Sussan Ley going to do about it? Is she going to stare down the knuckle draggers? Or are they going to get their way?”

WA Premier Roger Cook says it’s a “matter for Canberra” whether Australia needs to implement export controls on critical minerals.

His comments on Monday come after claims WA’s Beijing-backed miner Image Resources was giving China access to Australian zirconium, which could help with the Asian superpower’s hypersonic missile supply.

“I support a broad based trade relationship with China, and that includes critical minerals and others, which they may be using in a whole manner of different ways,” Mr Cook said.

“That’s a matter for the Commonwealth in relation to their foreign affairs and security policies. I’ll leave that to them.”

It comes after Defence Minister Richard Marles told the ABC on Monday he didn’t believe tighter export controls were needed.

“I note the comments from the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence today who says that these critical minerals and resource-based industries are an important part of the economy. creating many tens upon tens of thousands and is an important part of our overall trade relationship with China,” Mr Cook added.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has slammed the Coalition’s division over energy policy as “The Hunger Games” and accused them of having “net zero credibility”

Answering a Dorothy Dixer on investment in Medicare, Dr Chalmers used the opportunity in Question Time to criticise the Opposition.

“We are delivering cost of living help and responsible economic management and that’s the difference between this side of the House and that side of the House,” he said.

“They are divided. They are divisive and they are in disarray.

“They have net zero credibility on the cost of living or on the budget or on the economy.

“But we won’t be distracted by The Hunger Games which are playing out on that side of the House.

“We will continue to deliver for the people who sent us here to represent them.”

Resources Minister Madelaine King has told Parliament that without having a net zero commitment Australia wouldn’t get a seat at the table with international partners on critical minerals.

Speaking in Question Time, Ms King has spoken about the importance of climate targets to Australia’s international reputation.

It comes after Australia signed a historic trade deal with the US during Anthony Albanese’s White House visit, and Ms King discussed a critical minerals “production alliance” with G7 nations in Toronto, Canada last week.

“There are three factors that get Australia a seat at the table of a G7 meeting of ministers,” Ms King said.

“Firstly, it’s our commitment to net zero emissions by 2050. Secondly, it’s our commitment to environmental protection.

“And very importantly, it’s our commitment to the sustainable production of critical minerals and rare earth elements and changing the supply chain monopoly.

“This Government is committed to all three of those factors. Those opposite are committed to absolutely none of them.”

Australian artist Missy Higgins has drawn a crowd at Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was among fellow MPs and Senators, political staffers, and journalists who attended the ARIA “pop up” gig ahead of the awards on November 19.

Higgins sang three songs: Hidden Ones, Craters and her classic Scar.

During the performance, she spoke about the importance of supporting Australian artists, especially amid the rise of AI platforms ripping off creators’ work.

Environment Minister Murray Watt says he’s in active negotiations with the Greens and Coalition over his reworked environmental laws, but “doesn’t have a preferred partner”.

“We’re negotiating with both sides. We don’t have a preferred partner when it comes to passing these reforms,” he told Sky News on Monday.

“To get this through, we’re prepared to make adjustments to this legislation. Things like the structure of it, we’re open to walking about that.

“I’m not prepared to have a Bill that doesn’t deliver those wins for the environment and business.

“We’re at a stage where I’m open to hearing different ideas from both the Coalition and the Greens.

“So, if either the Coalition or the Greens wants to put forward some suggestions, I’m open to hearing them.

“And I really think it’s getting towards the time where both the Coalition and the Greens need to think about whether they’re prepared to stick by these current laws, which are failing business and failing the environment, or will they get behind something that actually delivers for both. So, they’ve got some hard thinking to do over the next couple of weeks.”

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is considering dumping the Liberals’ commitment to net zero by 2025 amid division in the Coalition and a bruising Newspoll.

It comes as the Liberal party’s leadership group gathered in Canberra for a two-hour meeting ahead of the sitting week to discuss their yet-to-be-released energy policy after their junior Coalition partner, The Nationals, voted to abandon net zero on Sunday.

Conservatives Angus Taylor, Michaelia Cash and James Paterson reportedly advocated to dump it in the meeting, while South Australian moderate Anne Ruston spoke explicitly in favour of the commitment.

Ms Ley only spoke briefly to the media on Monday and reiterated that the Liberal Party was still reviewing their policies but “looked forward” to working with The Nationals again as “two mature parties”.

Optus chief executive Stephen Rue again blamed errors by the telco’s staff for a failure to connect triple-0 calls linked to four deaths on September 18 and thousands of calls going unanswered over 13 hours.

“The initial mistake, a human error, occurred when the wrong process plan was selected for a routine firewall upgrade,” Mr Rue told the inquiry.

Mr Rue doubled down on his argument that responsibility for the outages across South and Western Australia lay at the feet of bungling staff, and not his management team for failures to implement recommended reforms from a 2023 review into network outages.

Senator Sarah Henderson labelled Mr Rue’s response “unbelievable” and said it was clear from the CEO’s prior statements that the deaths could’ve been prevented if Optus had done what it should’ve completed in implementing procedural improvements since 2023.

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Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says the Nationals are “entitled” to make their own decision on abandoning net zero and said the Liberals were still reviewing their policy position.

Speaking at a Kmart wishing tree on Monday morning, Ms Ley said the Coalition partners were “mature parties” who would continue to work together.

“I always said that the Nationals would come to their decision in their party room and the Liberals would similarly come to our decision in our party room,” she said.

“They’re entitled, as their own party, to arrive at their own position.

“But our joint energy working group has done an incredibly sound job up until this point in time, it’s continuing.

“And we can look forward to a Liberal Party energy position and then a coming together as a Coalition.

“I’m looking forward to the work that will happen between now and the Liberal Party’s position becoming known, and then us sitting down together as two mature parties.”