Laughing in the face of a climate crisis. pic.twitter.com/W8ctccB3Cg

— Dr Monique Ryan MP (@Mon4Kooyong) November 2, 2025

Caption: A Post on X by Member for Kooyong in Melbourne Dr Monique Ryan accusing The Nationals of “laughing in the face of a climate crisis”.

THE Nationals appear to have struck a nerve in withdrawing their support for Australia’s commitment to “net zero”, with proponents of the target resorting to personal attacks to defend their policy.

One of the most ironic parts of the situation is that the impact of net zero is mostly happening in Nationals seats – a far cry from their inner-city critics who do not have to negotiate the construction of giant wind and solar farms.

Following much public debate, The Nationals released their “Powering Australia First” policy at the weekend, announcing they would prioritise reducing power prices over reducing emissions – setting the stage for further debate over the party’s coalition agreement with the Liberals.

The announcement was followed by a flood of press releases from renewable energy lobby groups and politicians, defending their policy by attacking the Nationals – labelling them climate deniers and saying that their small number of members makes them irrelevant.

Few have been more defensive than the Teals, whose main funder Simon Holmes a Court released a fundraiser, called the Canavan Climate Trust, to campaign in marginal inner-city Liberal seats highlighting Nationals Senator Matt Canavan’s “work on behalf of the fossil fuel industry”.

The Teal MPs have followed his lead on their social media channels, with Monique Ryan from the seat of Kooyong in Melbourne posting a picture of the Nationals on her X account captioned: “laughing in the face of a climate crisis” (above).

Similar commentary has come from the Greens and Labor, with Federal environment minister Murray Watt saying on X:

“Yet again, we see the National Party dictating terms to the Liberals when it comes to net zero. Handing over climate and energy policy to the likes of Matt Canavan and Barnaby Joyce is like giving Dracula the keys to the blood bank.”

While the Government criticises the Nationals, it is unable to answer some of the critical questions Senators like Matt Canavan have been asking – like how many trees  will be cleared for wind farms and how much agricultural land will be taken out of production.

Their response to the Nationals has been similar to the climate change lobby across the world, who often resort to personal attacks on those asking questions of them, rather than simply addressing the subject matter.

Take the scientists who initiated the Dublin Declaration as an example. With concerns about a bias against red meat creeping into science, they came together to make a joint recognition that meat and livestock were essential – including for the environment.

Rather than challenging the scientific arguments of the Dublin Declaration, their critics resorted to attacking their industry funding sources to infer that they were compromised scientists.

To look at the fine print of the Nationals’ Powering Australia First policy, it says reducing emissions is still part of the goal.

The Nationals want to bring back the Emissions Reduction Fund, which is essentially what the carbon market was before Labor came into power.

That side of the plan has drawn criticism from One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, who said Australia should be going all the way and getting out of the United Nations’ Paris Agreement – like US president Donald Trump.

• The challenge to net zero targets across the world is one of the main topics at this week’s National Carbon Farming conference in Albury. Beef Central will have more stories from Albury in the coming days.