Libs inch towards net zero deal as Hastie leak stirs discontent

The Coalition is inching towards a compromise deal to keep the party together on climate change following the exit of net zero opponent Andrew Hastie, as MPs call for unity following the leak of Peter Dutton’s scathing assessment of Hastie’s performance last term.

The opposition’s dirty linen was aired on Monday as this masthead revealed that Dutton, who led the historic loss in May, was highly critical of Hastie’s work ethic and policy development in his private submissions delivered to the party’s election review in July.

Senior Liberals called for leaks to stop so that the party could focus on getting its policies sorted out, including its new position on the net zero by 2050 target.

Frontbencher James Paterson said the Coalition had good prospects of settling on a climate policy, reflecting growing hopes within the party room that Opposition Leader Sussan Ley could retain the net zero target, with stronger caveats about the economic impacts.

“I think we have a good chance of settling a consensus within the Liberal and National parties that puts our national interests first, that is economically sustainable and that is politically viable,” Paterson said on Sky News.

“We have to compete in not just the inner cities, but in the middle suburbs of our major cities.”

This masthead reported on September 10 that Ley and MPs close to her in the moderate and Right faction were putting together a package that would retain a net zero target. To make the deal palatable for Coalition MPs, the plans under consideration included stripping the net zero goal from law, exempting farmers and energy-intensive smelters from onerous rules, and turning the 2050 target to a looser goal that did not stipulate a date.

Such a compromise would likely be criticised by climate groups and cast as weak by Labor, but would provide Ley with a political pathway through the poisonous policy debate that contributed to Hastie’s move to the backbench. 

National Party leader David Littleproud pleaded with his Coalition partners to stop internal warfare.

“We want the Liberal Party to do better,” Littleproud said. “The reality is if you’re focused on yourself, the Australian people won’t be focused on you.”

Election reviewer and former senator Nick Minchin – who interviewed Dutton for the review in July alongside former NSW minister Pru Goward – confirmed they talked to Dutton about the party’s defence policy and did not deny Dutton scrutinised Hastie’s role as defence spokesman. The defence policy, announced late and with little detail, was criticised when it was released 10 days before the election.

Minchin declined to divulge details of the conversation with Dutton but played down Dutton’s critique of Hastie.

“Peter avoided direct criticism of his shadow ministers in the course of his discussion with us,” Minchin told this masthead.

“We discussed inter alia the defence policy and the policy formulation process generally.”

Dutton has not disputed this masthead’s report despite being contacted by several journalists on Monday.

In his interview over the party’s historic loss under his leadership, Dutton was scathing about Hastie’s performance.

“It was inconceivable to Dutton and his senior colleagues that Hastie effectively went on strike during the last term,” said one source who is familiar with Dutton’s submissions, but not authorised to speak publicly.

“Someone who should have been a powerful voice in the media tearing strips off Labor was absent, scared to do media, or lazy.”

The former leader also criticised Hastie’s policy development, pushing Hastie to reject Dutton’s claims and argue that defence policy failures were the fault of the opposition leader’s office.

Senator Jane Hume also weighed in on Sky on Monday, calling on colleagues to keep their counsel.

“As a former election reviewer myself, I know it’s really important for those submissions that we retain their confidentiality to ensure people can feel candid.”

Hume said it was “preposterous” to blame any one figure for the historic loss, saying it was “never one person or one issue”.

Deputy Liberal leader Ted O’Brien has backed Ley’s version of events in her feud with Hastie, claiming on Nine’s Today show on Monday that Hastie never raised his gripes with Ley before quitting the frontbench.

O’Brien said that “my understanding is there was no discussion about the immigration portfolio … at all”.

“If he believes he can make a better contribution from the backbench, it’s absolutely his right to do so. And I’m not going to criticise that,” he said.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison has urged the party to rally behind Ley and her economic message, outlined in a recent speech in which she flagged support for fiscal restraint.

“Do we want to have an economy that’s actually driven by the hard work and enterprise of Australians and Australian businesses and enterprises, or do we want to have an Australian economy that is basically enabled by the rest of the government?” he said.

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