The Liberal Party has today announced a new direction in energy and emissions policy, placing affordable energy and the cost of living at the centre of Australia's economic future.
Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley and Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Dan Tehan said the Liberal Party's priority will be to deliver affordable energy for families and businesses, while continuing to reduce emissions responsibly.
"Our priority is energy affordability and getting costs down for households and businesses," the Opposition Leader said.
"Under Labor, power bills are up nearly 40 per cent, household budgets are stretched to the limit, and industry and small businesses are collapsing under the weight of rising costs. Australians deserve an energy policy that puts them first.
"The Liberal Party is committed to the Paris Agreement and responding to climate change in a way that is affordable, responsible and achievable."
Under our plan, affordable and reliable energy will always come first. Our emissions reduction goals will never come at the expense of Australian families and this principle will guide every decision we take.
To keep faith with that commitment, the Liberal Party will remove a net zero target from our policy and, if elected, will remove Labor's 43 per cent 2030 target and its net zero by 2050 target from the Climate Change Act 2022. We remain committed to the Paris Agreement and to doing our fair share to reduce emissions in a way that protects household budgets and keeps our economy strong.
Our approach will not impose new mandates, nor set interim targets from Opposition. Instead, we will reduce emissions on average year on year as we did when last in government, in line with comparable countries and as fast and as far as technologies allow without imposing mandated costs.
Affordable Power and a Reliable Energy Grid
Unlike the Albanese Labor Government, the Opposition will harness all available energy technologies to bring prices down, keep the grid stable and reduce emissions responsibly.
This includes maintaining baseload power, supporting all forms of generation where it is required, unlocking new gas supply, and lifting the ban on zero emissions nuclear energy, which is already used or being developed in 19 of the world's 20 richest countries.
"Australians are being asked to pay more for less under Labor," Mr Tehan said.
"Our approach is simple. More affordable energy and lower emissions so that we can support households and businesses, and whilst doing our fair share.
"Labor is being dishonest, its policies are not working because prices are going up without emissions coming down.
"Our responsibility is to fix a broken system and deliver energy Australians can afford."
The Liberal Party's direction is affordable, reliable and responsible, built to ease bills, secure supply and reduce emissions without placing extra pressure on families or industry.
Under the Coalition, Australia outpaced much of the developed world, cutting emissions by 28 per cent on 2005 levels while growing the economy.
Under Labor, that progress has stalled, with emissions flatlining despite $75 billion of investment to date.
Reducing Emissions in a Responsible, Transparent Way
Under the Liberal Party, emissions will be reduced:
- On average year on year, for every five-year period of Australia's Nationally Determined Contribution.
- Doing our fair share considering the real performance of comparable countries.
- As fast and as far as technology allows, without imposing mandated costs on families or industry.
We will support a balanced energy mix, including renewables in the right place, and most importantly, with communities restored to the centre of decision making.
"Our focus is on results Australians can afford, not targets Australia cannot meet." Mr Tehan said.
"Whilst it is not our policy to set long-term targets, Net Zero would be a welcome outcome, if achieved through technology, choice and voluntary markets."
Australia has already reduced emissions by 28 per cent on 2005 levels, compared with an average 16 per cent reduction across comparable countries.
Yet Labor's plan to double the rate of reduction to meet its 2050 target would come at enormous cost, with more than $75 billion already committed and up to $530 billion in additional investment estimated by business as needed to reach its 2035 target. That is equivalent to $50,000 per household.
Under the Coalition, Australia outpaced much of the developed world, cutting emissions by 28 per cent on 2005 levels while growing the economy.
Over the past 20 years, Australia has reduced its emissions by 28 per cent, while comparable developed countries have reduced theirs by around 16 per cent on average, and global emissions have continued to rise. For two decades, Australia has been reducing emissions at more than one and a half times the average rate of other developed nations, cutting around 9 million tonnes each year.
To reach net zero by 2050, Australia would need to reduce emissions by around 17 million tonnes per year, which is double the rate achieved over the past two decades.
Yet Labor's plan to double the rate of reduction to meet its 2050 target would come at enormous cost, with more than 75 billion dollars already committed and up to $530 billion in additional investment estimated by business as needed to reach its 2035 target. That is equivalent to $50,000 per household.
"Labor's plan is unaffordable, unrealistic and unfair," the Leader of the Opposition said.
"They promised a $275 cut to power bills, but instead bills are up to $1,300 more than promised. Their policies have driven up prices, kept inflation higher for longer and put jobs at risk.
"Labor badly missed their 2025 target for electricity prices. How can we believe their 2030, 2035 or 2050 targets for emissions?"
Our Plan for Powering a Stronger Australia at a Glance
Having a stable, reliable energy grid which provides affordable power for households and businesses.
WE WILL FIX LABOR'S ENERGY MESS
- By scrapping Labor's arbitrary 82% renewables by 2030 target.
- By reviewing all contracts that have not reached final investment decision under Labor's Capacity Investment Scheme and Rewiring the Nation.
- By reinstating the National Energy Objectives at the first meeting of the National Cabinet to focus our energy market on the long-term interests of consumers with respect to price, quality, safety, reliability and security of supply - not emissions reduction objectives.
WE WILL USE ALL OUR ENERGY STRENGTHS
- By ensuring no premature closure of coal plants.
- By lifting the prohibition on zero-emission nuclear energy.
- By using all our natural resources to pursue energy abundance, including by adding uranium to the critical minerals list.
WE WILL DELIVER AFFORDABLE POWER
- By delivering a technology-neutral Affordable Energy Scheme over the near term which:
- Supports both new and existing generation with modest, targeted underwriting to keep prices down and ensure investment happens when and where it is needed.
- Brings on new supply faster by giving investors certainty across all technologies including gas, hydro, batteries, coal and renewables in the right place.
- Prevents early closure of reliable generation until replacement capacity is ready, avoiding reliability gaps, price spikes and the risk of blackouts.
- Fixes market failures without central planning by crowding in private capital, stabilising the system and putting consumers at the centre of every decision.
- By creating a long-term reliability mechanism for new and existing generation, such as technology-neutral capacity mechanism, exclusively focussed on delivering affordable, reliable power.
WE WILL DELIVER AUSTRALIAN GAS FOR AUSTRALIANS
- By unlocking investment in new gas supply and infrastructure.
- By streamlining regulations and committing to an annual offshore acreage release.
- By supporting an east coast gas reservation scheme, provided that scheme guarantees supply to Australian consumers, protects commitments with our trading partners, and puts downward pressure on prices.
- By sunsetting the Gas Code and Heads of Agreement and strengthening the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism as a last resort measure.
Reducing emissions in a responsible, transparent way that ensures Australia does its fair share.
WE WILL DEMONSTRATE OUR COMMITMENT TO THE PARIS AGREEMENT
- By reducing emissions on average year on year (for every five years of our Nationally Determined Contribution).
- By doing our fair share considering the real performance of comparable countries.
- By reducing emissions as fast and far as technologies allow without imposing mandated costs.
- We will not legislate mandates in Government, nor announce interim targets from Opposition.
WE WILL REDUCE EMISSIONS THROUGH A TECHNOLOGY-LED APPROACH
- By introducing an evolving Priority List of scalable, breakthrough technologies, including:
- carbon capture and storage (CCS) and sequestration.
- next generation, zero-emission nuclear energy technologies
- small scale solar focussed on commercial and industrial warehouse rooftops
- soil carbon
- AI for better grid management
- biofuels
- blue hydrogen
- low emissions manufactured products - like metals, cement and steel
- long duration batteries and storage (8 hours)
- By fostering bilateral cooperation on priority technologies.
- By removing the barriers within the investment mandates of the multi-billion dollar Clean Energy Finance Corporation and Australian Renewable Energy Agency to enable them to invest in the full range of emissions reduction technologies.
WE WILL EMPOWER INDUSTRY TO REDUCE EMISSIONS
- By incentivising decarbonisation through a voluntary market under the Accountability and Baseline Credits Scheme which:
- Ensures accountability for major emitters through transparent reporting without Labor's forced decline rates or punitive costs.
- Rewards real reductions by allowing facilities to earn, bank and trade credits when they cut emissions below their baseline.
- Drives least cost abatement by letting industry choose the most efficient way to cut emissions rather than imposing a one size fits all rulebook.
- Protects jobs and competitiveness by removing Labor's carbon tax by stealth.
- Supports private investment and existing corporate climate commitments through a stable, market based framework that encourages long term investment in new technologies, rather than short term measures to avoid Labor's taxes.
WE WILL SCRAP CARBON TAXES, TARIFFS, TARGETS AND MANDATES
- By opposing Labor's 2030 and 2035 emissions targets, which are not credible.
- By scrapping Labor's 43% by 2030 target and 'Net Zero by 2050' from the Climate Change Act upon being elected to government, and making affordable energy the number one priority in the Act.
- By scrapping punitive mandates under the Safeguard Mechanism.
- By opposing any Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism introduced under Labor, and hold the government to account for not standing up to others who seek to impose CBAM's on Australia.
- By scrapping penalties under the National Vehicle Emissions Standard.
- By scrapping Labor's wasteful EV FBT exemption policy.
WE WILL PUT COMMUNITIES AT THE CENTRE
- By developing a Code of Conduct for electricity infrastructure developers and requiring compliance with the Code for developers to access federal funding, and embedding the Code of Conduct in State Energy Deals with the states and territories.
- By maintaining our commitment to scrap four of the six offshore wind zones announced by Labor.
