Bad luck Barnaby: NSW Nationals support motion to affirm net zero, condemn efforts to scrap it

The Barnaby Joyce-led push for Australia to abandon net-zero by 2050 has received a timely reality check, after New South Wales parliament’s lower house – including 11 National Party members – decisively reaffirmed bipartisan support of the emissions reduction target.

In parliament on Tuesday, the 93-member NSW Legislative Assembly debated and voted on a motion affirming the support of the two major parties for Net Zero by 2050 and condemning efforts to undermine this bipartisan position.

The motion was passed with such a large majority – no more than six votes against – that no formal count or record of the ‘ayes’ and ‘noes’ was made. Just three ‘noes’ made it onto the record in hansard, and it was noted they came from independent members of parliament.

Moving the motion, Labor’s parliamentary secretary for climate and energy, Trish Doyle, reminded the house that it was the former LNP Coalition government – comprising both Liberals and LNP – that first committed the state to net zero and the accompanying energy transformation through its energy road map.

“That plan is not just supported by those opposite but was created by them,” Doyle said. “Members on this side of the House would like to know whether net zero still remains Liberal-Nationals policy or do The Nationals intend to walk away from net zero and the investment and prosperity it will bring?”

The question follows the late-July launch of Joyce’s federal parliament bill to repeal the net-zero emissions by 2050 reduction target, closely followed by a call to build new coal-fired power plants, focus on gas and nuclear energy and abandon the shift to renewables.

The bill hardly stands a chance – not least due to Labor’s thumping majority – but the federal Coalition has vowed to have a “review” of its net zero commitments and the rift that uncoupled the party, briefly, following the federal election shows no sign of healing.

Meanwhile, Joyce and his Queensland-based anti-renewables off-sider, Matt Canavan, claim to have drummed up significant support for scrapping net zero in their respective state National Party branches.

In a June Facebook post, Joyce said the NSW Nationals had voted “decisively” to reject the emissions target at a state conference in Coffs Harbour, in what he described as a “return to common sense and basic principles on behalf of our nation.”

But less than two months later, that principled decisiveness appears to have evaporated in the face of parliamentary debate.

In a vote on the August 5 motion affirming bipartisan political support for Net Zero by 2050, only three “noes” were recorded from the 93 members of the NSW Parliament’s Lower House – and none of them from NSW Nationals MPs.

Rather, the votes against came from three independents: Roy Butler, Helen Dalton, and Philip Donato. It is possible some of the 11 National MPs abstained from voting, but not one is on the record as voting against the motion.

According to the “votes and proceedings” document for that day, “the Assistant Speaker stated that in his opinion that the ‘Ayes’ had it. A division was called for and the Assistant Speaker declared the question to be passed as there were only three members (Mr Roy Butler, Mrs Helen Dalton, and Mr Philip Donato) in the minority who had challenged his decision.”

So where do the NSW Nationals stand on net zero? As Labor MP Majorie O’Neill put it in parliament on Tuesday, “I have to say, it is absolute chaos.

“Let us play a small game,” O’Neill continued. “I quote:

As we know our region is blessed with some of the best renewable resources anywhere in the country, and this REZ will provide jobs, investment and economic benefits for generations to come …

“Who said that? Was it Chris Bowen? No. Was it the Hon. Penny Sharpe from the other place? No. It was the member for Dubbo, celebrating the declaration of the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone.

“The leader of the NSW Nationals, the member for Dubbo [Dugald Saunders], is now calling for a moratorium on renewable projects, despite previously championing them in his electorate. He is now calling on a moratorium to slow them down and not to have them.

“He is talking out of both sides of his mouth. …We have to ask: What has changed? I call on the leader of the National Party to come to the Chamber to speak on the debate and to test his leadership in this place.

“Leadership takes backbone. I have to say, this bloke is just blowing in the wind. As I said, what has changed? It is not the science or the economics, just the politics.”