Liberals declare ‘all-out war' as Hastie targets Zempilas over net zero

West Australian

6 days ago

Andrew Hastie has fired a shot at Basil Zempilas, declaring he was 'disappointed' by the new WA Liberal Leader's position on net zero, as a deepening party divide threatens to become an ugly public spat.
The shadow home affairs minister used a newsletter to supporters to call out Mr Zempilas' stated support for the 'status quo', days after the WA Liberal party's state council passed a motion calling on the Federal Opposition to abandon the climate change target of net zero by 2050.
'The motion — moved and supported by my division of Canning — reflects a growing concern from mainstream Australians,' Mr Hastie said.
'I was therefore disappointed to see WA Liberal leader Basil Zempilas publicly dismiss those concerns.
'Our party is built on strong membership and open debate. When members speak up, we don't ignore them - we listen.'
The Hastie newsletter was titled 'net zero is a bad deal', while the sentence calling out Mr Zempilas was highlighted in bold font.
'It's time that we had an honest conversation about where this path is taking us,' Mr Hastie said.
'I'll always back our members.'
One Liberal source called it 'all-out war' as the divide over net zero threatens to undermine the new leadership of Sussan Ley, on the eve of her next visit to WA.
Ms Ley is due to arrive in WA on Friday, with plans to visit Broome, Kununurra and Wyndham.
She met with Mr Zempilas in Perth two weeks ago, as both leaders embark on self-proclaimed 'listening tours' in the wake of bruising State and Federal election defeats.
Mr Zempilas was dubbed a 'net zero loser' by conservative lobby group Advance Australia on social media on Tuesday, after he left Saturday's state council meeting before the net zero debate and quickly distanced himself from the result.
'I had a pre-existing commitment that I had to get back to,' he told reporters on Monday.
'The WA parliamentary Liberal party supports the status quo.'
He also rejected motions that urged the Federal Opposition to ditch Aboriginal flags and Welcome to Country ceremonies from official ceremonies.
'We are very comfortable with standing in front of the Aboriginal flag,' he said.
'We are very comfortable with the Welcome to Country, and we support the status quo on the net zero targets.
'It was a motion of the membership and that motion was supported on Saturday. It doesn't bind the Federal party and it doesn't bind the State party. And you've heard from me, the state Liberal party supports the status quo as it is in place at the moment in regard to those three issues.'
The net zero motion was spearheaded by Mr Hastie's Canning division, while the motions on Welcome to Country and the Aboriginal flag were publicly supported by the State's most senior Federal Liberal Michaelia Cash.
She denied it flew in the face of Ms Ley's bid to avoid 'culture war' issues that some in the party blamed for Peter Dutton's election loss.
'I think Sussan is doing a great job leading us,' Senator Cash said.
'The motions represent debate and diversity, not contradiction.'