Family First welcomes today’s escalation of the war against net zero.
“Australian’s have been lied to about net zero,” National Director Lyle Shelton said.
“Windmills and solar farms can’t power a modern economy, and they can’t reduce electricity prices. It’s never happened and most of the world is walking away from it.
“That’s why Barnaby Joyce’s private member’s bill introduced today into the House of Representatives is so important.”
Mr Shelton said it was great to see Queensland Liberal Garth Hamilton join Joyce, Senator Matt Canavan and several other Nationals breaking ranks with the Coalition on net zero.
“Family First and other minor parties are being vindicated but we need to keep the pressure up.
“We’ve never had a proper debate about the costs and even if it is possible from an engineering point of view. This is an economic policy driven by climate alarmism with religious fervour.”
After last week calling for Joyce to apologise for his previous support of net zero, Mr Shelton welcomed his acknowledgement today he should have fought the issue when he was Deputy Prime Minister and in Cabinet.
“Maybe it was cowardly,” Joyce told Parliament today.
“To his credit, he now says, ‘I’ve got to do it now’,” Mr Shelton said.
“He is right in not waiting for Sussan Ley’s review.
“While we welcome the courage Joyce is now showing, Australia is still paying the price for the Coalition’s original capitulation. Pensioners are going cold this winter. Families’ electricity bills are through the roof. Farmers are watching their livelihoods destroyed. Manufacturing is dying. This pain is real — and it’s getting worse,” Mr Shelton said.
Joyce is right to warn that “billionaires, both domestic and international, benefit” from this scheme, while ordinary Australians foot the bill. His call for an “epiphany” in the nation’s energy policy should be a wake-up call to Sussan Ley and the rest of the Coalition frontbench.
“Family First backs Joyce’s bill. But if the Coalition wants to be taken seriously, it must do more than talk — it must walk away from net zero entirely,” Mr Shelton said.
Shelton also welcomed the West Australian Liberal Party’s decision over the weekend to formally oppose net zero.
“They’ve done what conservatives should always do: look at the facts, not the feelings,” he said.
Shelton referenced Nick Cater’s powerful column in The Australian today, which exposed how Britain’s Drax Power Station — once Britain’s biggest coal generator — now burns imported wood chips, emitting more CO₂ than ever while pocketing millions in subsidies.
“Net zero has become a racket,” Mr Shelton said. “Taxpayers are underwriting fake climate solutions like Drax — where forests in North America are cut down, wood is shipped across oceans, and emissions are conveniently ignored under ‘creative accounting’. It’s environmental vandalism dressed up as virtue.”
Cater revealed Drax earned 42% of its revenue through Renewable Obligation Certificates worth up to $100 each — all subsidised by taxpayers.
“This is what Australia is copying, through Labor’s and the Coalition’s shared obsession with ‘capacity investment schemes’ that hide costs from the public,” Mr Shelton said.
Family First continues to call for an affordable, reliable and realistic energy policy — based on coal, gas and, eventually, nuclear — not elite climate virtue signalling.
“If the Coalition wants to reclaim its credibility, it must abandon net zero like WA’s Liberals, and stop mimicking Labor’s dangerous energy fantasies,” Mr Shelton said.
“Family First will continue to stand up for the forgotten families, farmers and workers being crushed under this disastrous policy.”
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