Turnbull heckled by own party as NSW Liberals vote for climate debates

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has reportedly been heckled by parts of his party at a meeting where NSW Liberals voted for his government to conduct public debates about climate change and whether the science is settled.

An overwhelming majority voted in favour of the motion at the party's state council meeting on the NSW central coast following a speech by Mr Turnbull at the weekend, revealing the persisting level of climate change scepticism among the party, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The motion calls on the government to "arrange and hold public debates/discussions" between scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and "independent climate scientists", examining "the global warming/climate change debate", "the claims by the IPCC" and the statement "is all the science settled".

The newspaper reports the motion passed with support of more than 70 percent of delegates and proposes the first debate be held in Sydney, followed by one in Melbourne and others in each state.

Mr Turnbull, who had left the room before the climate change motions were debated, was reportedly heckled during his speech and many refused to rise when he was given a standing ovation.

"We encourage robust debate of policy motions at state council," a NSW Liberal Party spokeswoman said.