November 1, 2025
The National Party’s Federal Council voted on Saturday to dump support for Australia achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
This follows similar votes at a State level in the party, and could now be considered for adoption as early as Sunday by the Nationals’ party room ie. elected Federal MPs.
Member for Wide Bay Llew O’Brien moved Saturday’s motion, saying a net zero policy for Australia made no sense considering the actions of China, India and the United States.
His motion supported “emission reductions” but said “key industries such as the mining, agriculture and manufacturing sectors” should be protected.
It also called for a “balanced energy mix including coal, gas and renewable energy” and the scrapping of the federal moratorium on nuclear power production.
The motion was supported by Member for Flynn Colin Boyce, who has been an outspoken critic of net zero.
Mr Boyce has previously claimed that 16,000 jobs in his electorate were being put at risk by the policy.
In his address to the Federal Council – spoken before the net zero debate – Nationals Leader and Member for Maranoa David Littleproud repeated his support for nuclear energy.
“We believe in reducing emissions, but not at any cost. And not at regional Australia’s cost, not at our people’s cost. We want to be fair and equitable about how we achieve that. But this reckless race is destroying livelihoods, it’s destroying communities,” Mr Littleproud said.
“There’s a better way; there’s a fairer way. When we have sovereignty of all our resources and why wouldn’t we use them all? That’s common sense …
“We believe in maintaining and protecting our climate and our environment. There are practical ways.
“There’s not just one way, there’s alternative ways. And we should consider those in a calm, considered way. And your deliberations we will consider.
“And as I announced today, tomorrow morning our party room will meet to consider your deliberations today … we’re not walking away from reducing emissions, but we can do it a better, fairer, cheaper way.”
UPDATE November 2, 2025: As expected, Federal National MPs formally ended their commitment to Net Zero at their Party Room meeting on Sunday.
