00:00Well, this came after a unanimous party room decision made yesterday.
00:08Nationals leader David Littleproud saying that the party will now shift its focus to climate
00:14adaptation instead of being solely focused on reducing carbon emissions.
00:20Now, in explaining this decision, the Nationals say that Australia will only have a small
00:27share in the global decarbonisation effort and also that regional Australia in particular
00:33is being torn apart by the current commitment for Australia to offset all of its carbon emissions
00:41by 2050.
00:42Now, as part of this plan and this announcement being put forward by the Nationals, David Littleproud
00:51says that the party will now aspire to reduce carbon emissions by 30 to 40 per cent by 2035.
01:00Now, that is significantly lower than the government's current target that was only announced recently
01:07of a reduction by 62 to 70 per cent on carbon emissions during that same period.
01:14Now, this move by the National Party has raised plenty of questions on how the Liberal Party
01:21will now respond.
01:23The coalition has long had plenty of discussions and had division at times on climate policy.
01:32And earlier this year, following the election defeat, it was actually one of several factors
01:38that led to a split between the Nationals and the Liberals.
01:43So, this step by the National Party will also pose a challenge to opposition leader Susan Lee
01:50on whether the Liberal Party will follow or potentially risk the coalition being split yet again if a consensus
01:59can't be reached.
02:01Now, the Liberal Party has already brought forward the timeline of a review that it's doing
02:07into energy policy in anticipation of this decision by the National Party.
02:14Now, David Littleproud was earlier asked whether or not the Nationals would urge the Liberal Party
02:20to also drop its commitment to net zero.
02:24And he said that that will be a decision for the party to make.
02:28Let's hear a bit more of what he had to say.
02:31The Liberal Party respected us and didn't tell us how we should have our policy.
02:36And I don't intend to do that.
02:37I'm going to allow them to get to that position under their own volition.
02:42And that's about respect.
02:43And that's how I operate within the coalition is with respect.
02:46And Susan and I have had numerous conversations about that in allowing the Liberal Party to
02:51get to that position.
02:52And when they do, that's when we'll sit down again.
02:55And I think we'll do that calmly and constructively.
02:57The government has been very critical of this decision by the Nationals.
03:02Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen saying that the Nationals have betrayed regional Australia
03:09in making this move.
03:11He says that regional Australia has the most to lose when it comes to the impacts of climate
03:17change, but also the most to gain when it comes to the transition.
03:22He goes on to say that farmers are earning a significant income stream from hosting renewable
03:28energy projects alongside their other farming activities.
03:33But in making this announcement and this move, the Nationals have pointed to rising power bills,
03:42rising electricity costs, impact that that's having both on households and manufacturing and
03:48businesses.
03:49The Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, spoke to media earlier and he was asked when power
03:56bills are expected to come down under the government's current renewable energy-led plan.
04:01Here's what he had to say.
04:03What has occurred on power prices is the product in part of the dysfunction and chaos that's been
04:11there of the coalition.
04:1324 out of 28 coal-fired power stations announced their closure.
04:17They had no plan to do anything other than fight each other and that's continuing today.
04:22What we've done is put a cap on gas and coal prices.
04:27Plenty of reaction to the ongoing climate wars that we have seen for quite some time now
04:34and it's not expected to ease up anytime soon.
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