‘Take a deep breath on being Trump-esque’: senior Coalition figures reject backbench push to rethink net zero | Environment

Nationals leader David Littleproud, shadow transport minister Bridget McKenzie and Senate Liberal leader Simon Birmingham have all rejected a backbench push to use Donald Trump’s election in the US to abandon support for net zero by 2050.

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has said he is completely committed to the target, attempting to fight the next election on the Coalition’s vague taxpayer-funded nuclear plan that will likely extend the use of coal and gas rather than the 2050 target.

But after Trump’s win, several Nationals backbenchers suggested the policy should be reconsidered, with Senator Matt Canavan calling to withdraw from the Paris agreement and MP Keith Pitt praising Trump’s “bold positions” including on climate change.

Asked if the Coalition should rethink its support for net zero, Littleproud told Sky News: “No.”

He said: “And while President Trump’s made some soundings about that, you have got to understand your place in the world.

“They are 330 million people, we’re 27 million people, we’re a trading nation. The only people that will hurt out of that will be our farmers and our mining sector.”

Littleproud warned that attempting to “lead the world” out of the Paris agreement “will get a tariff whacked on our commodity”, in reference to carbon tariffs, such as the European Union’s carbon border adjustment mechanism.

Littleproud took aim at the Albanese government for its 2030 emissions reduction target, arguing that Australia could reach net zero by “[taking] our time to it and [doing] it properly, so that there isn’t an impact on the economy”.

A consensus of scientists have repeatedly said delaying climate action is worsening catastrophic global heating, including the potential for decades-long megadroughts in Australia.

Littleproud noted that he was “the first leader to be able to get the Coalition to agree to nuclear energy being part of that grid, to have that complement and supplement with gas and coal, with [carbon capture and storage] and having some renewables”, implicitly comparing himself with former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce.

“We will have a balance, we’ll do it properly, we’ll do it sensibly. But I think we should just take a deep breath on trying to be Trump-esque here in Australia, because there are unintended consequences, and they are farmers and miners.”

McKenzie said that “the Coalition is absolutely committed to net zero by 2050”.

“In fact it is a fundamental pillar of our drive for net zero with nuclear, which will set us up for energy security into the next century,” she told Guardian Australia.

“The National party has consistently raised issues with the method and aggressive rate of emission reduction and who pays for that … we’ve always said net zero would never be net zero cost, that our industries and our communities would be the most significantly impacted.”

McKenzie specified that she was referring to targets set by state governments and the federal Labor government for 43% emissions reduction by 2030. She said this was impacting regional communities through the renewable rollout and resulting in “aggressive” EV targets.

Birmingham, the opposition foreign affairs spokesperson and leader of moderate Liberals, said the Coalition’s position under Dutton “is solid in both the commitment to net zero and taking difficult decisions to get there, such as zero emissions nuclear technology”.

Ahead of Trump’s election the climate change minister, Chris Bowen, noted earlier in November that the Albanese government and the Biden administration had been “closely aligned in policy and personal terms” and “obviously, having a United States administration with a very forward-leaning climate policy is a good thing”.

In an interview with Guardian Australia, Bowen suggested a second Trump administration would be unlikely to live up to the former president’s anti-climate rhetoric on the climate crisis.