Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan grilled on net zero as Advance pledges to undermine pro-climate Liberal MPs

Sky News AU

2 days ago

Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan has been pressed on the Coalition's net zero stance after it was revealed a lobby group is targetting Liberal MPs who support the emissions reduction target.
Net zero has proved to be a contentious issue for the Coalition, resulting in a short-lived split between the National and Liberal parties in late May and sparking a handful of backbenchers to publicly oppose the policy.
Despite Opposition Leader Sussan Ley touting net zero and reducing emissions as a key priority, she has faced mounting pressure from within her party to dump the policy altogether.
Activist group Advance has launched a 'nationwide pressure campaign' urging supporters to target Coalition MPs who backed net zero, vowing 'dump net zero, or we dump you", according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Mr Tehan was grilled by Sky News host Pete Stefanovic on Monday who pressed the shadow energy minister to respond to claims some of his colleagues were "suck-ups".
Mr Tehan, who has previously expressed support for climate related measures rebuffed Advances attacks and said he had 'not seen any suck-ups".
'I've not seen any suck-ups, I've seen strength about holding Chris Bowen to account for his failings, and we are seeing them across the board,' Mr Tehan said.
'Anyone who cares about the long-term future of this nation and especially when it comes to the failure of energy policy on this issue, what we have to do is all be on the same page.
'We need to highlight how the government is getting it wrong and once we can point that out, take the time we need to have alternative policy, that's what articulated from the word go.'
Mr Tehan tried to downplay the major intervention from a group pivotal in sinking the Voice to Parliament debate, instead claiming the opposition was holding the government to account.
But the Coalition has yet to formalise its alternative to the government's net zero approach.
Asked bluntly how much influence Advance had, Mr Tehan admitted the right side of politics needed to unite around the opposition.
"What we have to do on the right side of politics is know and understand that there is a progressive front on the left which is working to undermine us," he said.
"And what we've got to do on the right side of politics is unite, we've got to unite in holding the government to account."
Stefanovic questioned whether the Coalition was united if Advance was picking off its more moderate MPs.
But the shadow minister avoided addressing the lobby group's efforts and instead argued he was successfully poking holes in the government's energy plan.
"What we've got to do is all be on the same page to make sure, first, we can highlight how the government is getting it wrong. And once we can point that out, then we can also take the time that we need to have an alternative policy," he said.
"That's what I've articulated from the word go."
Advance told supporters in an email on Friday that 'politicians in Canberra need to listen"
"Not just Labor. It's the Net Zero suck-ups in the Liberal Party and Nationals, too," the email said.
The group also labelled Liberals who backed the policy as 'climate weaklings".
The Coalition is currently conducting a review of net zero alongside a Nationals Party review, with Mr Tehan previously stating that gas would be key to energy policy moving forward.
'We get this wrong we hurt households, we hurt individuals, we hurt industry we hurt our international competitiveness,' he said.
Shadow home affairs minister Andrew Hastie, who told Sky News on Sunday that he was still 'interested' in leading the Liberal Party in the future, blasted net zero and questioned Australia's role in reducing global emissions given it produced only 1.1 per cent of the world's carbon.