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

The Prime Minister made his way to a now-fully bulk billing doctor’s clinic on Monday to talk about the new Medicare incentives that came into effect over the weekend – but he faced questions on everything but, including the Newspoll results.

Anthony Albanese said his government was focused on delivering “real things which make a real difference for real people”, including making it cheaper to see a doctor.

“My government is focused, it’s disciplined, it’s orderly, and the Coalition – I’ll leave them to their chaos and infighting,” he said.

The Coalition’s primary vote slumped to a record-low 24 per cent in the polling published on Monday and satisfaction with Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s performance also dropped amid infighting and missteps.

At the same time, the primary vote for One Nation rose to a record high of 15 per cent.

Mr Albanese said his government was charting a centrist path by doing exactly what it said it would.

“We will continue to govern as a party that is interested in reform but rejects extremes of the right or of the left,” he said.

“We reject those approaches, and we continue to put forward things that make a practical difference to people’s lives.”

Optus boss Stephen Rue has rejected calls to resign in the wake of September’s deadly outage of the telco’s triple-zero services.

“There are questions arising about my position, but I firmly believe that another change of leader at this time is not what Optus needs, or what our customers need,” Mr Rue told a Senate inquiry into the catastrophic failures on Monday.

“The disruption and uncertainty could actually set back the transformation underway and create further risks.”

The chief executive says Optus will take back control of network operations currently handled by Nokia teams based in India, Chennai, and Sydney.

Mr Rue has told the parliamentary inquiry that notifications alerted Optus that triple-zero calls were not connecting; however, he claimed these alerts were misinterpreted.

“People did not act on the information that triple-zero calls were not going through,” Mr Rue said on Monday.

Liberal backbencher Sarah Henderson, who is on the Senate committee, asked Mr Rue why he should keep his job after three people died.

Mr Rue said, “I do believe that another change of leadership” would set back a plan for Optus and not be “good” for the telecommunications sector.

Optus chief executive Stephen Rue has told a parliamentary inquiry into the company’s response to a triple-zero outage linked to the deaths of three people that he is “sorry”.

“As the CEO, I am accountable for Optus’ failings, and I am deeply sorry. We are all deeply sorry,” Mr Rue said on Monday.

“The tragic deaths of people during this outage will stay with us as individuals and as a company as we investigate the incident and build on our response while progressing a sweeping transformation of Optus.”

Nationals Leader David Littleproud says the decision for his party to drop net zero was “good policy” and not about “politics”.

“This is not about politics, this is good policy. This is a conversation about alternative ways to do our bit, but to have an affordable energy grid and an economy that can support, continue in the future, emissions reductions,” he told ABC News Breakfast.

“This isn’t about trying to do anything other than trying to put a policy platform.

“We’re calm and methodical about this and we’ll work with our Coalition partners when they get to their position.

“We made it clear, as did the Liberal Party after the election, that we had processes - individual processes that our party would run through. We got to ours on the weekend.

“We’ll respect and wait for the Liberal Party.”

The Opposition’s internal division over climate and energy policy will also be in full view as Parliament returns after the Nationals voted to abandon a policy of committing to net-zero emissions by 2050.

The move sets up a potential fight with the Liberals, many of whom support the target and see it as necessary for the party to regain ground in urban seats.

On Sunrise, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce said the Liberals and the Nationals needed to “look at exactly why people are so upset with the Coalition, and what are the issues that will make them think their loyalty deserves a vote”.

Support for the Opposition has plummeted to a record low as voter backing for embattled Liberal Leader Sussan Ley nosedives.

The primary vote for the Coalition has dropped to 24 per cent, well below its result at the May election when it received a historic drubbing, according to a Newspoll published in the Australian.

The record-low support coincided with a new high for One Nation, with the minor right-wing party polling at 15 per cent of the primary vote.

Labor retained a clear 57 to 43 per cent margin on two-party-preferred vote, the poll released on Monday said.

Ms Ley’s net approval rating crashed to minus 33, below that of former Liberal leader Peter Dutton on the eve of his election loss.

Her performance was closing in on the records of other unpopular opposition leaders, including then-Labor Leader Bill Shorten’s minus 38 rating in 2015 and then-Liberal Leader Andrew Peacock’s minus 44 in 1990.

The poll follows weeks of infighting in the Liberal and National parties, including the loss of high-profile MPs Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Andrew Hastie from the front bench.

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