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‘Popping champagne corks’: Climate change boss slams Coalition for dumping net zero
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‘Popping champagne corks’: Climate change boss slams Coalition for dumping net zero

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The head of Australia’s Climate Change Authority, Matt Kean, has strongly criticized the coalition’s decision to ditch net zero emissions by 2050. He accused his former party of ignoring science and joining global pariah states.
“This isn’t policy, it’s just politics,” Kean, former Liberal NSW Treasurer and Environment Minister, said told SBS of the COP 30 climate summit in Brazil.
“Politics doesn’t change physics, and just because the coalition is walking away from evidence and science doesn’t mean the rest of the world will either,” Kean said.

The former energy minister said that while the global community was “redoubling” on efforts to cut emissions, the coalition was pandering to mining lobbyists.

“The only people who will be popping champagne corks after yesterday’s Coalition announcement are the big coal companies who will benefit at the expense of Australian consumers,” Kean said.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley announced on Thursday that the Liberal Party would abandon net zero, following in the footsteps of its junior coalition partner, the Nationals, which made its own announcement earlier this month.

She said the two sides would hold talks on Sunday to negotiate a joint climate and energy policy.

Kean branded the coalition’s plan to subsidize the expansion of coal-fired power stations – which are set to retire at the end of the decade – as “hugely expensive”.
“If the Opposition wants to endorse coal, they are effectively endorsing higher electricity bills for Australian consumers and businesses.”

“The cheapest way to deliver new generation capacity to the grid is renewable energy. That’s what the Australian Energy Market Operator says. That’s what the Australian Energy Market Commission says.”

‘Gen Z and millennials’ top priority, says Ley

At the heart of Ley’s energy pivot is the promise that “energy prices will always be more affordable among us” — though she did not name an exact dollar amount by which bills would drop. as Labor did before the 2022 election.
The Liberal leader believes she can sell a cost-of-living argument to young Australians – who have statistically left her party in droves at the last three elections.

“Young Australians have told me they care about the climate, and I care about the climate too,” Ley said on Friday.

“[Dumping net zero] is about the national interest. It’s about what’s good for our country, and most importantly, it’s about what’s good for Generation Z and the millennials who right now can’t afford a house, can’t pay their energy bills and are looking at a government that is bent on providing them with a worse standard of living than their parents.”
Kean, a moderate who grew up in the Bradfield electorate in Sydney’s north – which the Liberal Party lost to independent Nicolette Boele in 2025 for the first time in its history – said the Coalition’s energy offer was “ideology trumping facts”.

“I think the coalition wants to join Russia, Iran and… [US President Donald] Trump, and I think this is completely out of step with what the Australian community would expect from their government.”

‘Modest’ adoption of coal

Opposition energy spokesman Dan Tehan has repeatedly declined to say whether the Liberals will release models to support their climate policies, or how much will be spent to extend the life of existing coal-fired power stations.
“What we have said is that we will have a technology-neutral, affordable energy plan so that existing generations will be supported with modest and targeted uptake, like what is happening under the Labor Party, but only happening for wind and solar,” he said.

“We will release our policy and we will do so with sufficient time for the Australian people to look at it [and] point them out [before the next election]”.

Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull – whose party rolled him over energy policy – ​​described the decision as ‘Groundhog Day’.
“[The Liberals] guarantee that they will marginalize their voice. It’s like they’re worried about competing with [One Nation leader] Pauline Hanson as opposed to holding [Prime Minister] Hold Anthony Albanese accountable,” he said.
One of the key conundrums for the coalition now is how its stated energy targets will align with Australia’s obligations under the 2015 Paris Agreement, which allows no backsliding on climate targets.
Kean said from the COP – a summit that Australia hopes to co-host with the Pacific Nations next year – that he does not “understand” how the coalition could feasibly remain in the Paris Agreement and still abandon net zero by 2050.
“I don’t think so she understand how they can stay in Paris and get away from net zero,” Kean said.
“What is clear to me is that while the White House has raised the white flag, the rest of the world has certainly not given up.”

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