LNP Abolishing its Own Policies: Angus Taylor’s Climate Backflip

The Coalition has just unveiled what it calls its new energy policy. But read the measures and it's difficult to describe this as just an energy policy. It's a plan to dismantle the majority of Australia’s existing climate action framework.

Angus Taylor says he would repeal the Climate Change Act, remove the legislated net-zero target, abolish the Safeguard Mechanism, repeal the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard, revoke offshore wind zones, and remove federal prohibitions on nuclear power. Now what makes this announcement particularly remarkable is that most of the policies he's proposing to abolish were created, adopted or supported by previous Coalition governments.

Angus Taylor says he will “scrap net zero”. But back in October 2021, it was him and Scott Morrison who jointly announced Australia’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050. Labor later put that target into law through the Climate Change Act 2022, but the commitment itself was adopted by the Morrison LNP government. Five years later, Taylor is promising to remove it from Australian law.

That's not just a reversal of existing Labor policy. It's a repudiation of a central climate commitment made by the last Coalition government!

Then there is the Safeguard Mechanism, which the Coalition now describes as a “carbon tax on business” and promises to abolish. The problem with that rhetoric is again simple: the Coalition created it.

The mechanism commenced in 2016 under the Coalition and placed emissions baselines on Australia’s largest industrial facilities. Labor strengthened it in 2023 by requiring covered facilities to progressively reduce emissions. There are legitimate debates about offsets, industry impacts and how quickly emissions should fall. But it's deceitful to pretend the basic architecture is a radical Labor invention.

Taylor is also proposing to repeal Australia’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard. Despite all the rhetoric, the standard doesn't ban utes or force Aussies to buy electric vehicles. It sets efficiency targets for manufacturers, encouraging a greater supply of cleaner and more efficient vehicles for consumers to choose from.

On renewables, Taylor is proposing to revoke four offshore wind zones and shift energy policy towards more coal and gas, while also lifting the nuclear prohibition. In his own words, the Coalition would keep coal generators operating “as long and hard as possible”, and expand coal, gas and oil production.

Taylor says his priority is affordability and reliability. Yes, Australians care about power bills, industry costs and whether the lights stay on. But the Coalition's claims should be tested against evidence. AEMO’s 2026 Integrated System Plan concluded that renewables connected by transmission, firmed by storage and backed by gas remain the least-cost pathway for the National Electricity Market as coal generators retire. CSIRO’s 2026 GenCost report reached a similar conclusion about the cost competitiveness of renewables supported by storage. Renewables are cheaper than coal or nuclear, so how can replacing them with coal and nuclear reduce costs?!

Australia’s National Climate Risk Assessment warns that climate change is increasing risks from heat, fire, floods, sea-level rise, infrastructure damage, health impacts and economic losses. Those risks don't disappear because a politcial party decides to rename climate policy as energy policy, and emissions don't stop warming the atmosphere because politicians declare that Australia has “done its bit” - again, Angus Taylor's words.

This is why the announcement matters beyond individual policies. Over several LNP governments, Australia slowly assembled a climate-policy framework. It was inconsistent, inadequate and repeatedly fought over, but pieces of that framework were nevertheless built.

The Howard government legislated laws containing nuclear prohibition. Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull introduced the Safeguard Mechanism. Scott Morrison, with Angus Taylor as the responsible minister, committed Australia to net zero by 2050. Labor then legislated that commitment, strengthened the safeguard system, introduced vehicle-efficiency standards and accelerated renewables.

The Coalition now proposes reversing most of that architecture. Its own policy could hardly be clearer: scrap net zero, scrap the Safeguard Mechanism, keep coal operating longer, expand gas and oil development and lift the nuclear ban.

Abolishing climate action and calling it an “energy policy” doesn't make the climate consequences disappear. But it does take the LNP one more step closer to One Nation and Trump in terms of its commitment to Australia's future safety and prosperity.