Former Liberal MPs deride net zero dumping as ‘nail in the coffin’ that may prolong pain in urban seats | Liberal party

At least three former Liberal MPs have ridiculed the opposition’s decision to abandon carbon neutrality by 2050 as an “existential crisis” and “another nail in the coffin” that would ensure electoral irrelevance for the foreseeable future.

Guardian Australia has spoken to former Liberal Party politicians and candidates, who say any hopes of regaining inner-city and suburban seats at the next election have been dashed following the decision.

“It’s a recipe for these seats to become much more difficult to have a chance of getting back,” said one moderate former lawmaker.

After months of protracted meetings and infighting, the Liberal Party announced Thursday that it would abandon its legal target of net zero emissions and its commitment to renewable energy projects, while still adhering to the Paris agreement – ​​despite a clear contradiction with the agreement.

The shadow ministry agreed that a future coalition government would also scrap Labor’s legislated 43% emissions reduction target by 2030, as well as its 82% renewable energy target.

Although no detailed energy and emissions reduction policy has been published, the opposition said its approach would be “technology agnostic” and would include a mix of coal, gas, hydropower, batteries, renewables and potentially nuclear.

Shadow Housing Minister Andrew Bragg defended the decision but acknowledged the Paris Agreement requires a government to set ambitious emissions reduction targets.

“Reducing emissions is important to us, as is getting lower prices and more abundant energy,” the prominent moderate senator told Sky News.

“So I guess we’re trying to achieve these goals simultaneously, rather than just picking a narrow goal that the government has been pursuing.”

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The decision to abandon net zero follows the party’s worst election defeat in 80 years, leaving a single Liberal MP – Goldstein’s Tim Wilson – as the sole representative of inner cities across the country.

The result follows the 2022 election, when six independents were elected against long-serving Liberal MPs – including in traditionally blue-ribbon seats – on platforms of climate, integrity and gender equality.

Another former MP, who lost his seat to Labor in May, said the result had “a sense of existential crisis” and flagged that the coalition deal had undermined the Liberal party’s identity.

“I think you can already see what the corflutes will say in the next election,” they said.

“I think what should happen is that the Coalition [only] exist to form a government, but you have to have your distinct identities, your distinct policies.

A well-known Liberal candidate, who will not run again, said it was “just another nail in the party’s coffin.”

“Yesterday was guaranteed to lose the votes of everyone under 50 in one fell swoop,” they said.

“If they think that by doing this they think the party has a future, they are very mistaken. This might appease the over-80s who are still hanging around in many sections, but it is a party without a soul. It is a party without a future.”

Former moderate Liberal MP Keith Wolahan, who lost his seat to Labor this year, said the debate over climate change and reducing emissions was “driven mainly by emotion and virtue”.

“Unless the Coalition Liberal party wins more seats in the metropolis, it will always be a voice only in opposition, and I don’t think that’s in the best interests of the country,” Wolahan told Sky News.

But former Liberal MP Lucy Wicks, whose bid to return to federal politics failed in May’s election, said the policy announcement showed the party was “starting to stand for a purpose” even if it didn’t win seats.

“I don’t know what this might mean for us in the next election, but the most important thing we can do as a party is demonstrate to our community that we have a vision for Australia’s future and bring people with us on this journey,” she said.

“It’s not just about power, [or] to win for the pleasure of winning. Politics must also be about purpose.

The Liberal-aligned think tank Blueprint Institute commissioned a poll from YouGov in August on voters’ attitudes towards the coalition.

The poll surveyed 5,007 voters and found 52% of former Coalition voters said they would “only consider a party prepared to govern if it had credible policies to tackle climate change and its impacts”.