Smithson: SA’s Liberal president ‘on a mission of her own’ on net zero
Award-winning political columnist Mike Smithson captures the hot air rising from SA Liberal party ranks as derision continues to erupt over a net zero emission target.
Life in the Liberal Party wasn’t meant to be easy.
Just ask Federal Liberal Leader Sussan Ley who’s preparing to thrash out a revised climate policy as MPs travel to Canberra in a recall that has many angry at having to make another pilgrimage to the national capital.
The Liberals remain all at sea or up in the air over climate and net-zero emissions, in a turmoil which seems likely to cut Ley’s leadership brutally short.
For those who’re finding it confusing, you’re not alone.
In essence, the party is split over dropping the policy or maintaining it with an immediate solution seemingly hard to find.
At state level, the conservative dominated Liberal state council doesn’t support net-zero, but the moderate influenced parliamentary wing does.
Go figure.
On the federal landscape, their Nationals coalition partner has gone it alone by half scrapping the policy of a defined 2050 timeline, proposing to align itself to an OECD average.
Is there a right or wrong philosophy when it comes to reducing carbon emissions when we look towards the rest of the world?
Everyone would like to ingest the purest air we can breathe and control global warming, but why punish ourselves to reach a target when we produce only a fraction of the problem compared with China?
Others claim that walking away from net-zero would pull the rug from investment confidence, raise power prices and jeopardise green export potential.
Convincing well-versed younger generations that climate protection isn’t a key mission could be another major problem for the Libs.
You might like
SA Liberal president and conservative senator Leah Blyth has been on a mission of her own.
She’s been vocal on local radio in the lead up to this week’s policy talks in Canberra.
“Labor’s reckless pursuit of net-zero at any cost is costing Australians,” she told ABC breakfast radio.
“And on that basis, I just don’t think it’s in our national interest,” she said.
That was also a deliberate shot fired across the bow of her own party.
There’s growing disquiet on climate policy and in the leadership of Ley.
But Blyth diplomatically cut her leader some slack.
“I respect our leader for allowing us the time and space to debate such an important policy position such as this,” she said.
“I’ve had some really respectful conversations with colleagues who agree and some who disagree.”
The senator then went on to espouse what she sees are the evils of net-zero claiming the economy and valuable farmland will be ravaged if the policy stays in place.
Is there another potential messy divorce now looming with the Nats, if the Libs go it alone?
“We go through different periods where we need to compromise,” she explained.
“As a Liberal party we’re going to need to go through our processes to get there.
“But we do get to positions which are in the best interests of the Australian people.”
That may not be in the best interests of Sussan Ley.
She will need to harness all the energy she has this week to escape with her leadership integrity intact.
Other Liberals are openly talking about, not if her leadership topples, but when.
One gets a sense that those who didn’t support her in the first place will be the first to eagerly push her over a cliff.
Stay informed, daily
She’s only been in the top job since May after the disastrous federal election trainwreck for her party.
I’ve been reliably informed that no-one sees it in the Lib’s best interests to get rid of her before Christmas as that would be a horrendous look for the party’s first female leader.
So, if she limps through to May next year, a 12-month stint would be far more palatable.
Angus Taylor may have seemed a logical replacement, but he’s considered by some as damaged goods in the wake of the Dutton disaster.
Andrew Hastie’s sudden departure from the shadow ministry to the backbench, now seems a blindingly obvious tactical indication, despite his insistence that it isn’t.
Another five months of cooling his heels would also work in the wider optics.
So where does that leave South Australia in this tricky political crossfire?
As reported in InDaily last week, Vincent Tarzia has again ruled out dumping net-zero.
“From a state level, we haven’t changed our position. We remain pretty clear on that,” he said.
The Liberals will need to solidify their policy positions faster in SA than elsewhere with an election coming before the predicted demise of Ley.
They’re also battling falling membership with 200 members not renewing, allegedly over climate policy.
On another political front, Tarzia’s stamp duty abolition policy announcement was predictable, well-intentioned but questionably executed.
He offered the Premier a political gift only hours after dropping the story to the morning press.
Peter Malinauskas was flying out of the blocks to appear in person on radio chat shows in the belief he would greet Tarzia face-to-face.
The Premier sees his strength in debating his adversary on every occasion.
On that basis, perhaps it was a stroke of genius that Tarzia was nowhere to be seen first up, but it allowed the Premier to demonise every aspect of the lack of costings.
Personally, I consider it sheer madness from the Liberals.
His office said his daily scheduling meant he couldn’t appear in the prime time 7 o’clock breakfast slot.
Tarzia made a brief radio appearance later, but his tactical advantage had already been lost.
If that was a deliberate ploy, then it was a high-risk gamble which failed.
The Premier stole all the oxygen and more than double the airtime of the person who should have been fiercely prosecuting his grand plan.
But at least the Libs now know what to expect every time they drop a policy story overnight for pre-dawn headlines.
The Premier will be knocking on the door of every other outlet with a pre-planned attack.
It’s as simple as that.
Mike Smithson is weekend presenter and political analyst for 7NEWS.
