Canavan claims Coalition ‘on the cusp’ of abandoning net zero as Ley urged to follow Dutton’s voice referendum tactics

Queensland Nationals senator tells Cpac conference ‘last rites being administered’ and praises Andrew Hastie for threat to quit frontbench over policy

Nationals senator Matt Canavan has claimed the Coalition is “on the cusp of walking away from net zero”, urging Sussan Ley to campaign against the emissions reduction target by taking inspiration from Peter Dutton’s opposition to the Indigenous voice referendum.

The conservative political conference Cpac has heaped more pressure on Ley to dump the climate target, with a host of rightwing Liberal and National politicians calling for the 2050 aspiration – agreed by the former Coalition prime minister Scott Morrison – to be scrapped immediately.

“I think we’re on the cusp of the Liberal and National parties walking away from net zero,” Canavan told the Cpac conference, claiming the “the last rites [are] being administered right now.”

“It’s got to go through this process, maybe it’ll take 12 months, but we took two hours to come up and oppose the emission target this week, so that’s good.”

Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan is leading an internal process to set the Coalition’s energy policy, including its position on net zero. That process is ongoing but has no timeline for reporting or finalising policies; Ley last week said the party was “not going to be pinned down on timelines” but “taking the time to get that right”.

“We do take climate action seriously and we do believe that Australia should play its part in reducing emissions, but not at any cost,” she told a press conference.

Ley indicated the Coalition wouldn’t set a 2030 or 2035 climate target while in opposition, saying her party didn’t support pledging emissions goals unless they return to government.

Some net zero sceptics including Canavan and Abbott have argued that not setting 2030 or 2035 targets would necessitate scrapping the 2050 goal, because not setting shorter-term goals would mean even more drastic reforms would be needed to meet the longer-term aspiration.

Canavan, in a live broadcast at Cpac of the Sky News opinion program Outsiders, called on his colleagues to have “the guts and courage to point out the emperor, the net zero emperor, has no clothes”, and suggested emulating Dutton’s strategy from the Indigenous voice referendum.

“The Australian people didn’t change their mind on the voice until Peter Dutton came out and showed leadership. As soon as he took a position, the polls on the voice went off a cliff. The same thing will happen here,” Canavan said of net zero.

In Cpac speeches on Saturday, Abbott joined recently demoted Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, senator Alex Antic and the Cpac chair, Warren Mundine, in urging the dumping of net zero. The Liberal deputy leader, Ted O’Brien, was heckled several times during his speech by audience members calling for the Coalition to scrap the target.

Ley was not on the speaker’s lineup at Cpac. Angus Taylor, who she defeated in a leadership ballot, sent a short video message; Andrew Hastie, another potential leadership aspirant, was mentioned several times in glowing terms by speakers and attenders. Canavan, in a separate speech on Saturday, strongly praised Hastie for his threat to quit the shadow frontbench if the Coalition stuck by net zero, which received a standing ovation and loud applause from many in the audience.

Cover photo:  Matt Canavan called on his colleagues to have ‘the guts and courage’ to say the ‘the net zero emperor has no clothes’ at the Cpac political conference Photograph: Russell Freeman/AAP