Opposition could see 'mass exodus' as party rift widens over net-zero target

A senior Liberal frontbencher is warning of a "mass exodus" and another has threatened to quit if the party doesn't abandon its net-zero policy, despite a report painting a dire picture of the effects of global warming on all Australians yesterday.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is reviewing the party's climate policy after the historic defeat at the May federal election, in which former leader Peter Dutton touted a controversial plan to build seven nuclear reactors across Australia.

It has sparked an internal dispute, with some ministers strongly opposing achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

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Shadow education minister Jonno Duniam warned many would leave the frontbench if Ley supports the target, after Liberal home affairs spokesperson Andrew Hastie's ultimatum that he would be willing to quit or be dumped from the shadow cabinet over his opposition to the policy.

"If we just said net-zero at any cost by 2050, I think you'd find there'd be a mass exodus," Duniam told Sky News this morning.

"Our party room (position), I'm pretty certain, based on the conversations I've had, including with our own leader, Sussan Ley, is that adopting net-zero at any cost is bad policy.

"And that is something that I don't think many people in our party room, if anyone, is going to countenance."

Yesterday, Hastie threatened to step down from shadow cabinet if the Liberal Party moves to support net-zero.

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"That leaves me without a job," Hastie told ABC Radio Perth when asked what he would do if Ley supported the target.

"I have nailed my colours to the mast.

"My primary mission in politics is to build a stronger, more secure, more competitive Australia. Energy security is a vital input into that, so that's my bottom line."

The infighting over the net-zero policy comes as the Albanese government handed down the first National Climate Risk Assessment yesterday, which found that about 1.5 million people will be at risk of sea level rise by 2050, with 2.9 degrees of warming by 2030 to cause up to 444 per cent more heatwave-related deaths.

"We are living (through) climate change now. It is no longer a forecast, projection, or prediction," Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said.

"It is a lived reality. It is too late to avoid any impact now. But it's not too late to avoid the worst of the impacts."

The federal Labor government is set to reveal its interim emissions reduction target for 2035 this week, while the opposition has yet to determine its climate policy.

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Ley is currently recovering from a damaging week after dumping Liberal Senator Jacinta Price from the frontbench over her refusal to publicly support her and apologise for remarks she made about Australian Indians.

"Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has failed the test of high standards that I have set for members of my shadow ministry," Ley said last week.

Hastie said Ley had "no choice" but to demote Price because she "didn't express support for her leadership".

"And one of the conditions for serving in the shadow cabinet or the outer ministry is that you support the leader," Hastie told ABC.

When asked if Ley had Hastie's full support, he said: "she has my support."

"I wouldn't be sitting here speaking with you as the shadow minister for home affairs."

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