Wednesday, 12 November 2025

 Tim RICHARDSON (Mordialloc) (13:38): Victorians are asking themselves: where does the Liberal leader, the Leader of the Opposition, stand on net zero? Right now in Canberra we have Liberals and Nationals going to town on each other right this minute. Sussan Ley, the federal Leader of the Liberal Party, is in turmoil as Tim Wilson, the federal Liberal shadow minister, says that they are at risk, if they scrap net zero, of becoming Nationals light.

The Leader of the Opposition for two months has evaded questions on whether he would scrap renewable energy or invest in renewable energy if he was leader. We have not been able to find him. On Ali Moore’s program on the ABC he refused to answer. We tried to find out just that one question, because those opposite, particularly the member for Kew, the member for Hawthorn and the member for Prahran know that this is a question that will define leadership of the Liberal and National coalition, because those opposite have not ever backed renewable energy and the investment that is needed. They walked away from it when they were in charge in Canberra. We saw the National Energy Guarantee and how destructive that was. So that is the question. We have got a senior leader at the table here, the Shadow Treasurer. Do they back businesses investing in renewable energy, or will they scrap net zero? Where does the member for Kew’s colleague the Leader of the Opposition stand on net zero? Just give us a signal – just a wink, a nod. Just let us know with any sort of any sort of reference, because it is destroying confidence in our democracy when it is backroom deals that sort out policy.