Liberal Senator Jane Hume calls on Coalition colleagues to ‘embrace net zero’
Liberal Senator Jane Hume is calling on her Coalition colleagues to “embrace net zero” as a Nationals-led backbench rebellion threatens unity.
Sussan Ley has still not come up with a climate position after the Coalition’s decimation at the federal election in May.
Nationals heavyweight Barnaby Joyce is calling for the abandonment of the net-zero target and has introduced a private member’s Bill to do so.
Sign up to The Nightly's newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.He and his small band of backbench allies argue that renewables are pushing energy prices up and threatening jobs in regional Australia.
But Senator Hume, a Liberal moderate, said on Monday that Australians had repeatedly made clear they wanted emissions reduced.
“I think there’s different views around the party room,” she told Sky News, adding that it is “really important that we get each one of those views on the table”.
“But the electorate has told us time and time again that they want to see a lower emissions future.
“They want to embrace net zero.
“And when the Liberal Party is putting together its policy platform, it should consider not just the seats that we hold but the 33 that we need in order to form government.
“And those 33 electorates have said that they want a net zero.”
She said the question was “how do we get there?”
The answer, according to her, lies partly in nuclear energy.
“Labor’s renewable rollout is well, well behind, emissions are flatlining, and we don’t know how much taxpayers are subsidising this,” Senator Hume said.
“Nuclear may well be part of the mix.
“If we were hosting COP (Conference of the Parties), I think one of the benefits would be we would see some of those organisations that support new nuclear energy showing their wares.
“At the last COP, there were 20 nations that signed up to triple the amount of nuclear energy that they would adopt in order to reach a net-zero future.”
She said COP31, which Australia is bidding to host next year, is “an opportunity for Labor to see exactly how … those nuclear energy options, those clean nuclear energy options, potentially would work.”
Originally published as Liberal senator calls on Coalition colleagues to ‘embrace net zero’
