Nationals Revive Net Zero Debate in Parliament, Pits the Economy Against Climate Action

The Nationals highlight job losses and rising costs, while Labor argues clean energy powers growth, protects agriculture, and strengthens resilience.

Sunsets on a wind turbine at Hornsdale Wind Farm in Adelaide, Australia, on Sept. 29, 2017. Mark Brake/Getty Images

The push to repeal Australia’s net zero emissions targets returned to Parliament with Nationals MPs arguing the policy is economically destructive and globally ineffective.

Nationals MP Llew O’Brien said that while climate change is real, Australia cannot be expected to bear the burden alone.

“When we signed up to net zero in 2021, we did so on the premise that the whole world was decarbonising and that the major emitters were going to take it seriously,” he told Parliament on Aug. 25.

“Four years on, it’s obvious that’s not the case.”

The bill was first introduced by Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce in July, aimed at repealing legislated net zero targets.

Joyce argued, “Net zero is going to have absolutely no effect on the climate whatsoever,” adding that countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the United States were not “participating in it in a real form.”

O’Brien built on the argument, citing China’s expansion of coal generation.

“Last year alone, [China] constructed 94 gigawatts of coal-fired power. It’s mining coal at an unprecedented rate. It is not giving up coal,” he said.

In addition, India’s targets were “so far out into the future they’re almost worthless,” and Russia’s emissions were rising amid the Ukraine war.

The United States had also started a process to exit its commitments “because it’s putting its people and its economy first, and that’s what we need to do in Australia,” O’Brien said.

‘Economic Sabotage’ and Regional Backlash

O’Brien labelled the Albanese government’s 82 percent renewable energy target as “one of the greatest acts of economic sabotage in the history of the nation.”

He said wind and solar projects were “destroying rural and regional Australia,” dividing communities and families.

“And for what? For the most expensive electricity in the world, some of our prime agricultural land, a lot of it, is being carpeted with these Chinese solar,” O’Brien said.

He accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of misleading Australians with promises of cheap power and green hydrogen exports, calling the transition a “spectacular failure” in Gladstone, the Hunter, and South Australia.

“It has cost the taxpayers an absolute fortune,” he said, adding that 33,000 businesses had gone insolvent since the push for net zero began.

“Our manufacturing is going offshore because we’re not competitive. We’ve lost industries like our urea industry, our plastics industry, our nickel industry. Our heavy metal smeltery is on life support,” O’Brien said.

“This is a nightmare that needs to stop.”

Labor Defends Net Zero Progress

Labor MP Susan Templeman argued that the Nationals were ignoring their own record, reminding Parliament that the Morrison government had committed to net zero in 2021.

She said Australia’s energy mix has changed significantly.

“When we came to government, [renewables were] reaching 46 percent of the national energy market at the end of 2024 and working towards 82 percent of our mix by 2030,” she said.

Templeman added that emissions were down 1.4 percent, or 6.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, to March this year, driven by Albanese government policies and a “record investment in clean energy, including $9 billion for new large-scale generation.”

She pointed to 18 gigawatts of renewable capacity installed since 2022—enough to power six million households—while noting that the International Energy Agency projects global clean energy investment will reach $2.2 trillion this year.

“Renewables made up 92.5 percent of all new electricity capacity added worldwide,” Templeman said.

The Future of Agriculture and Energy

Templeman rejected claims that renewables were overrunning farmland, citing the NSW Agriculture Commissioner’s estimate that only 0.1 percent of rural land would be required by 2050.

“We know with certainty that worsening droughts and extreme weather are far worse for farmers and food prices,” she argued, highlighting the opportunity of carbon credits as an added income stream for regional communities.

“The biggest threat to agriculture isn’t net zero. It’s doing nothing,” Templeman said.

Steggall Asks for More Climate Resilience Funding

Independent MP Zali Steggall asked the prime minister whether he would commit more funding to climate resilience.

She said that while every $1 spent on disaster preparation, up to $11 is saved in recovery costs, less than 30 percent of the National Emergency Management Agency’s budget is currently directed to preparation and resilience.

“That is something my government is looking at in a range of areas as well, as well as providing for local infrastructure programs,” Albanese said.