‘Unconventional' Fix Urged in National Leadership Fight
The outrider for the Nationals leadership, which will be decided within hours, is pushing for the junior coalition party to dump the 'ridiculous' net zero emissions target.
Queensland Senator Matt Canavan will challenge current party leader David Littleproud when Nationals politicians go to a vote on Monday afternoon.
He hopes to give the coalition a 'fighting chance' at the next election after Australian voters delivered a bruising defeat at the most recent political contest.
'I don't think the Australian people were given enough of a choice at the last election,' he told 2GB on May 12.
'[At the election] we basically said, 'Look, things are bad but we're not proposing any major radical changes to fix it.'
'I have been an agent of change.'
Related Story
5/9/2025
Party leaders generally sit in the lower house, but having leaders in the Senate is not unprecedented, he said, pointing to the Greens who will soon appoint a leader from their upper chamber team.
'It's unconventional ... [but] we are in unconventional times,' Canavan said.
'The Liberal-National coalition has suffered the worst defeat since World War II and so I think it is time we perhaps look to unconventional responses to get ourselves back in the game.'
His opposition to cutting Australia's greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050, and his outspoken nature, have given him recognition within the party and in the regions.
On Monday, he continued to label moves towards net-zero as 'craziness' and vowed to dump the policy if he wins the party leadership.
He has also urged his party to diversify from its usual rural and regional voter base and run more candidates in outer-suburban seats, noting many in these areas feel forgotten by 'capital city-based media.'
Littleproud is still tipped to re-take the Nationals crown, but while Senator Canavan says he has done an excellent job, change is needed.
'We didn't win,' he said, of the coalition's shattering federal election loss on May 3.
'This job, like any major leadership role, is a performance-based job, and I think we do need a different strategy.'
The Nationals will have one less person in their partyroom meeting on Monday after Northern Territory Country Liberal Party Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price moved to the Liberal party room from the Nationals.
She's now running for the deputy Liberal leadership under leader contender Angus Taylor ahead of a vote on May 14.
Nationals politicians, including Senator Canavan, have criticised Senator Price for the move, although she can choose which party room to sit in.
'Jacinta, if she wanted to do this, she could have done it a different way,' he said.
'I also don't think it's fair for the Northern Territory people.
'She was elected over a week ago on a platform that she would sit in the National party room.'
The Labor government is likely to have at least 92 seats in the lower house, and the coalition 40, out of 150 spots. Some eight seats are still in doubt.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump administration threat to end Harvard contracts puts research at risk
May 30 (UPI) -- The Trump administration is seeking to end all contracts it has with Harvard University, a move that adds to the strain between the federal government and America's researchers. The administration announced on Tuesday that it is in the process of reviewing its contracts with Harvard in preparation for their termination. The move may cost the United States a generation of top researchers, Sarah Spreitzer, vice president and chief of staff in the American Council of Education's government relations department, told UPI. "We're going to lose grad students or post-docs that might have been educated in those federally funded labs," Spreitzer said. "The undergrads are going to lose the opportunity of working alongside those researchers and learning from their work." Harvard has contracts partnering with government departments including NASA, Veterans Affairs, the Office of the Secretary in the Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration. Dozens of these contracts have been entered into, extended or otherwise updated since President Donald Trump took office. Harvard University did not respond to requests for comment from UPI. One of the largest contracts Harvard holds with the government is a $15 million contract from the Department of Health and Human Services. It is described in the Federal Procurement Data System as a "task order for human organ chip enabled development of radiation countermeasures." It was entered into on July 26. Another of its largest contracts is a $10.6 million contract with the National Institutes of Health for tuberculosis research. Harvard holds more than one contract with the government related to this work. "They want to do more with less," Spreitzer said of the Trump administration. "They're making decisions based on budgetary impacts but that's layered on top of some of the regulatory actions that they are taking, which is really, again, slowing down or completely stalling the scientific process." The Trump administration has cut research funding grants to several universities, many of them Ivy League schools. It has also made cuts to programs in the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among others that offer grant opportunities to universities. Since World War II, the U.S. government has leaned on universities to expand its research capabilities, leading to innovations in health, technology, economics and other disciplines. Spreitzer, who has been an advocate for higher education for 20 years. In that time she said she has interacted with nearly every federal agency, said the partnership has advanced the interests of the government and delivered value to U.S. taxpayers. "Right now we are at this historical inflection point where the federal government is rethinking their partnership with our institutions of higher education," she said. "It's been a very profitable and very important partnership that's helped the entire United States. Whether you're talking about new drugs or medical research or the innovative products that might be spun out and have created jobs." The rethinking of the partnership between the government and universities goes beyond contracts and grants. It is also proposing a lower cap on its reimbursement to universities for indirect costs or facilities and administrative costs. These are overhead expenses that an institution has that are not related to specific projects, such as government-funded research. Prior to the current Trump administration, the National Institutes of Health reimbursed an average of 27% to 28% of direct costs to universities to help cover indirect costs. These rates were negotiated with some institutions being reimbursed at rates more than 50%. There has not been a cap on most reimbursements since Congress removed them in 1965. In February, the National Institutes of Health announced a new policy to cap these reimbursements at 15%. The American Council on Education filed a lawsuit seeking to block the proposed cap, warning that it would greatly disrupt research across the country. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs granted a preliminary injunction against the Department of Energy from instituting a rate cap policy. The injunction succeeds a temporary restraining order Burroughs granted against the administration, shielding all institutions of higher education from rate caps. "It would have a huge impact on our institutions," Spreitzer said. "They've also made huge cuts in some of the fellowship programs. Whether it's the fellowship program for the next generation of NSF scientists or whether it's the Fulbright program -- those have all been suddenly stopped."
UPI
33 minutes ago
- UPI
Trump administration threat to end Harvard contracts puts research at risk
1 of 2 | The Trump administration is seeking to end all contracts it has with Harvard University, a move that adds to the strain between the federal government and America's researchers. Photo by CJ Gunther/EPA-EFE May 30 (UPI) -- The Trump administration is seeking to end all contracts it has with Harvard University, a move that adds to the strain between the federal government and America's researchers. The administration announced on Tuesday that it is in the process of reviewing its contracts with Harvard in preparation for their termination. The move may cost the United States a generation of top researchers, Sarah Spreitzer, vice president and chief of staff in the American Council of Education's government relations department, told UPI. "We're going to lose grad students or post-docs that might have been educated in those federally funded labs," Spreitzer said. "The undergrads are going to lose the opportunity of working alongside those researchers and learning from their work." Harvard has contracts partnering with government departments including NASA, Veterans Affairs, the Office of the Secretary in the Department of Commerce and the Small Business Administration. Dozens of these contracts have been entered into, extended or otherwise updated since President Donald Trump took office. Harvard University did not respond to requests for comment from UPI. One of the largest contracts Harvard holds with the government is a $15 million contract from the Department of Health and Human Services. It is described in the Federal Procurement Data System as a "task order for human organ chip enabled development of radiation countermeasures." It was entered into on July 26. Another of its largest contracts is a $10.6 million contract with the National Institutes of Health for tuberculosis research. Harvard holds more than one contract with the government related to this work. "They want to do more with less," Spreitzer said of the Trump administration. "They're making decisions based on budgetary impacts but that's layered on top of some of the regulatory actions that they are taking, which is really, again, slowing down or completely stalling the scientific process." The Trump administration has cut research funding grants to several universities, many of them Ivy League schools. It has also made cuts to programs in the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among others that offer grant opportunities to universities. Since World War II, the U.S. government has leaned on universities to expand its research capabilities, leading to innovations in health, technology, economics and other disciplines. Spreitzer, who has been an advocate for higher education for 20 years. In that time she said she has interacted with nearly every federal agency, said the partnership has advanced the interests of the government and delivered value to U.S. taxpayers. "Right now we are at this historical inflection point where the federal government is rethinking their partnership with our institutions of higher education," she said. "It's been a very profitable and very important partnership that's helped the entire United States. Whether you're talking about new drugs or medical research or the innovative products that might be spun out and have created jobs." The rethinking of the partnership between the government and universities goes beyond contracts and grants. It is also proposing a lower cap on its reimbursement to universities for indirect costs or facilities and administrative costs. These are overhead expenses that an institution has that are not related to specific projects, such as government-funded research. Prior to the current Trump administration, the National Institutes of Health reimbursed an average of 27% to 28% of direct costs to universities to help cover indirect costs. These rates were negotiated with some institutions being reimbursed at rates more than 50%. There has not been a cap on most reimbursements since Congress removed them in 1965. In February, the National Institutes of Health announced a new policy to cap these reimbursements at 15%. The American Council on Education filed a lawsuit seeking to block the proposed cap, warning that it would greatly disrupt research across the country. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs granted a preliminary injunction against the Department of Energy from instituting a rate cap policy. The injunction succeeds a temporary restraining order Burroughs granted against the administration, shielding all institutions of higher education from rate caps. "It would have a huge impact on our institutions," Spreitzer said. "They've also made huge cuts in some of the fellowship programs. Whether it's the fellowship program for the next generation of NSF scientists or whether it's the Fulbright program -- those have all been suddenly stopped."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Leading energy firm sent into tailspin due to US policy changes: 'Refocusing its global operations'
Reuters reported that Macquarie, an Australian investment bank, canceled the sale of Corio Generation because of a lack of interested buyers. Corio owns and oversees a major 25-gigawatt collection of offshore wind projects that span several continents, from Asia-Pacific to Europe and the Americas. The update comes at a time when President Trump's administration has sent global economies into a tailspin with aggressive tariffs, leading to overall market instability. However, the hesitancy also comes as the Trump administration has doubled down on dirty fuel sources like oil and gas, backpedaling on the significant advancements in renewable energy projects made in previous years. Now, Corio is downsizing instead. A spokesperson told Reuters that with the "challenging" market conditions, the company is "refocusing its global operations to prioritize the development of a smaller portfolio of projects which have the clearest route through to construction." Additionally, they said, "This will also require a restructure of the organization to reflect that change in strategy." Corio's projects are also facing challenges with skyrocketing construction costs, higher interest rates, and supply chain issues, Reuters explained. Wind power is both a positive economic force as well as a boon for the environment, curbing planet-heating pollution as it creates high-paying jobs. The U.S. Department of Energy predicts that the wind industry will have the potential to support hundreds of thousands more jobs in the coming decades. It also provides critical tax dollars, contributing an estimated $2 billion in state and local tax payments and land-lease payments annually, per Clean Power. Yet despite this, the Trump administration suspended leasing for new offshore wind projects on his first day back in office in January; the president has also halted the development of other existing projects. This setback could prove incredibly damaging, delaying progress on converting the global economy to renewable energy. This green transition is crucial for achieving carbon neutrality and ensuring the atmospheric stability and the future of the planet. But in the short term, projects like Corio's also generate positive financial returns for investors. While Corio is downsizing, the march toward a renewable-powered future still persists. Projects across solar, wind, hydro, and even nuclear power are contributing to massive growth in the renewable energy sector. In fact, renewable energy is set to be able to meet nearly half of the global electricity demand by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. And when it comes to wind project development, many states are pushing back on the Trump administration's anti-environmental actions. Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., recently announced that they are suing the administration over its wind power obstruction. On a personal level, both voting for pro-climate candidates and investing personally in green stocks and companies are great ways to put your money where your priorities are. Do you think we should deal with air pollution by burying things underground? Sounds great No way Only for certain waste I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
