The Nationals Party have now turned net zero into Nyet zero, abandoning their net zero by 2050 commitment.

And that’s a great thing. But as always, the devil is in the detail. David Littleproud is the current leader of the Nationals, and he has a long history of trying to play both sides of the fence on climate change.

[From video]

Ernie, you say climate’s changing. Uh, and that’s certainly true. The question is, is this man-made climate change? I’ve got no idea. But does it does it really matter? Sorry. You have no idea whether I’m not a scientist. Uh I don’t haven’t made an opinion one way or another, but I don’t think it really matter.

The Washington Post now leads with the headline, Australia’s natural disaster minister doubts man-made climate change is real. Does the minister still doubt the science? Let me make it clear. I accept the science on man-made impact on climate change. Always have. The interview that was taking place was was interrupted was interrupted by division and I wasn’t able to finish the finish my response. Whether it’s man-made or not is irrelevant. The the facts are that’s a debate that that has extremes from both sides come out.

So David, the the fundamental question is uh whether man-made climate change is causing droughts like the one we’re seeing now. That’s what Mega is suggesting. Well, look um that’s a big call. Uh I don’t I look the reality is the reality is I don’t really give a rats whether it’s man-made or not. Uh my question is to the minister for drought and various other things. Uh and I’ll refer to the minister to an article in the Guardian in which the minister responded to written questions about whether or not there was a link between human activity and climate change. Uh and he responded that he was not convinced about that. I’m just a poor humble bloke with the year 12 education, but I’m prepared to accept prepared to accept what our scientists are telling us. As simple as that. [End video]

Now, to be fair to Mr. Little Proud, he never voted for any of the net zero bills that were put forward in Parliament.

But that was more a matter of his disagreement with the timelines and the targets, not a rejection of the premise entirely. And there is good reason to doubt that the nationals under David Littleproud’s leadership can actually follow through effectively on scrapping net zero. The danger to them is that One Nation are waiting in the wings, hoping that their moment to become the reform of Australia has finally come.

But before we dive into the details, let me say that this is good news. I’m not here to be a wet blanket. Well done to the good people within the Nationals Party who have fought hard to make this policy change happen. That has taken courage on the part of many members of the Nationals Party. It’s involved considerable political risk and a commitment to the truth that is sadly rare in politics today. If I had a hat, I would tip it to those individuals responsible for this change because this is a historic moment and it’s the first sign of Australia starting to follow the rest of the world in walking away from the madness of net zero. And it’s a necessary first step towards Australia getting a government that rejects net zero.

But let’s not forget that the Liberal National Coalition went to the last federal election with a commitment to net zero by 2050. And let’s not forget that both Sussan Ley and David Littleproud were in leadership positions at that time, leading their party to an absolute spanking at the hands of Anthony Albanese. Now times have changed. Now the Nationals have finally done what they always should have done. They have rejected net zero. So, it’s a great start and there’s good signs that the Liberal Party may follow suit and potentially do it quite soon.

But let’s not get carried away here because whilst this is a great start, the truth is that most of the work still lies ahead of us. This is a delicate moment and if we don’t play our cards right, then this could actually backfire and create evidence, proof that Australians want net zero. When actually if the Nationals under David Littleproud and the Liberals under Sussan Ley fail to capture this moment, it’ll just be proof that we are not fooled by frauds. I’ve been saying for some time that the end of net zero in Australia is closer than most people think. But I’ve also been warning against half measures, merely moused political compromises, rejecting net zero by name, but actually just rebranding it as some other emissions reduction measure.

I’ve been warning essentially against political fraud, against politicians who say one thing but do another because the Australian electorate have had a gutful of that kind of politics and such a move will be fatal to the political chances of the Liberal and national parties at the next election. Such a compromise position is doomed to fail because it will not inspire the kind of movement that is propelling reform in the UK, Mille in Argentina, Le Pen in France, the AFD in Germany, not to mention Trump in the USA. Half measures and compromise and nuance politics might seem sophisticated in the halls of Canberra, but it is politically fatal in Main Street Australia.

If the Nationals half-ass their rejection of net zero and if they drag the Liberals under Sussan Ley to join them in some merely mouthed passionless yes but no foot in both camps position then they will get absolutely wrecked at the next election and that failure will then be used as proof that Australians want net zero. What do we actually want? Well, we want leaders with vision. So what do we do about it? Well, we’ll get to the details, but first, my name’s Topher Field. This is the Topher Project, and I help busy people like you to cut through the crap and make sense of the nonsense as the world changes around us.

I am 100% viewer supported. So, if you appreciate having an Australian commentator keeping a finger on the pulse and making sense of the nonsense that comes from our politicians and our media, then please help me to keep the Topher project going by buying me a coffee via the button at topherfield.net. And if you like my videos, then you will love my books about government, power, civil disobedience, and human rights. There’s Good People Break Bad Laws, about the role of civil disobedience in the modern age. Then there’s Good Christians Break Bad Laws, which is about the theology of civil disobedience. Then there’s my DVDs, my t-shirts, and merch. And it’s all available at goodpeoplebreakbadlaws.com. Everything you buy will help me to keep the Topher project going so that I can keep bringing you stories and analysis like this.

My primary concern with this moment in time is that neither David Littleproud, the leader of the Nationals, nor Sussan Ley,

the leader of the Liberal Party, can ever truly walk away from climate alarmism and the alleged need for drastic emissions reductions. Because in their various ministerial roles over the last few decades, they have each in their own way been key architects and defenders of the net zero emissions reduction madness. Again, I’ll hasten to add that neither David Littleproud nor Sussan Ley has ever voted for the net zero legislation that was presented by the Labor Party to Parliament. But that’s because they disagreed over the timeline and the targets, not because they disagreed over the principle of sacrificing the Australian economy in pursuit of emissions reductions.

That was made abundantly clear once again in the press conference where David Littleproud announced the abandoning of net zero, but was quick to let everyone know that he hadn’t abandoned the climate change religion entirely. Watch.

[From video]

And I’m proud to say that our party room has got to unanimous position of scrapping net zero commitments by 2050. I a little while ago informed the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, of the National Party’s decision uh to scrap net zero by 2050. uh and to set a policy uh platform uh predicated on principles. Principles about a better, cheaper, fairer way to reduce our emissions and to have an energy policy that’ll actually work for Australians. It’ll save jobs. Uh when you see thousands of jobs being lost uh and at risk uh even this week from Tomago, you see the household stress on their energy bills. uh they should be seeing every quarter Anthony Albanese and Chris Bowen’s face on those energy bills when they open up because they’ve gone up by 40% uh since uh we signed up to net zero by 2050. [End video]

Notice the poison in the chalice built into that announcement very smoothly was the intention to still be trying to cut emissions just not to net zero by 2050. He wants to sell to the Australian people a better, cheaper, fairer way to still be reducing emissions. He’s trying to have a foot in each camp again. Now, the full announcement went on for some time and most of what was said was pretty good, common sense, shifting priorities away from emissions reductions at any cost and back to an approach that does at least consider the costs. That’s a great step forward. But if that’s the only step that they take, then it’s going to lead directly to Australia taking two steps backwards.

Because what the Nationals have done here is enough to differentiate themselves from the Labor Party, which their political strategists will insist is enough, but it’s not enough to inspire actual passion in the electorate. It’s not enough to lay out a real vision for what they do actually believe in. Nor is it enough, in other words, to capture this moment in history and turn the liberal national coalition into a juggernaut like reform in the UK or Milei in Argentina or Trump in the USA. And therein lies the danger because if this rejection of net zero doesn’t result in a big improvement in their polls and in their results at the next election, then that will be used as proof that they should not have abandoned net zero in the first place.

There is a very real risk that by half-assing it, David Littleproud and the Nationals will end up turning voters away. Not because voters support net zero, not at all, but because voters refuse to support a party that doesn’t really believe in anything. Would reform in the UK be riding high in the polls if they took a merely mouthed foot in each camp position? No, of course not. That’s what major parties have been doing for decades and everyone is sick of it. And we’re watching a moment in history where electorates worldwide are rejecting it. Everywhere we look around the world, voters are turning to parties that believe in something. And everywhere we look around the world, governments are turning away from net zero commitments and they are getting on with the business of supplying cheaper and more reliable energy.

Even Mark Carney, the World Economic Forum alumni who made a career out of being slightly to the left of Joseph Stalin.

Okay, I am exaggerating, but only a little bit. He has now announced that he’s going to turn Canada into an energy superpower. And he’s not just talking about solar panels, he’s talking about gas. Bill Gates, hardly a voice of reason on climate, said this to the world in the leadup to the COP 30 climate baggers convention in Brazil. There is a doomsday view of climate change that goes like this. In a few decades, cataclysmic climate change will decimate civilization. The evidence is all around us. Just look at all the heat waves and the storms caused by rising global temperatures. Nothing matters more than limiting the rise in temperature. Fortunately for all of us, this view is wrong. Although climate change will have serious consequences, particularly for people in the poorest countries, it will not lead to humanity’s demise. People will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future.” End quote.

That’s quite a reversal from Bill Gates. I’ll be doing a video where I’ll break down Bill Gates full statement because it is an astonishing sort of come to Jesus moment where he is suddenly agreeing with people who used to be considered heretics. People like Bjorn Lomborg who has long argued that there were better places for our limited resources to be invested. But the world is changing. Electorates are rejecting the politics of compromise and each way bets. The Nationals have an opportunity to get on the front of this in Australia. But instead, based on the evidence so far, they are engaging in exactly those half measures. Why? Well, because David Littleproud is still the leader. That’s why.

Now, full disclosure, I have considerable personal beef with Mr. Littleproud for his complete betrayal of irrigators when he was water minister. More recent followers may not be aware that the mismanagement of water in the Murray Darling Basin under the Water Act of 2007 and the resulting Murray Darling Basin plan has been my longest running issue, my biggest topic. I first started talking about it in 2011 and sadly it remains very much unresolved to this day. Now, David Littleproud was the Minister for Water Resources from 2017 to 2020. And he left the water portfolio in part because of the pressure he was under after a protest at Parliament House in Canberra in December 2019 where over 4,000 farmers showed up. We were supported by Bob Katter, supported by Pauline Hansen, and by many others, and I had the privilege of being the MC for those two days.

We took David Little Proud to task for his cowardice, claiming that he stands up for farmers just cuz he’s from a country town himself. But in practice, he just did what he was told for the advancement of his own political career. Now, he resigned from the water portfolio only about a month or so after that protest, handing it over to Keith Pitt in what I regard as just another example of his cowardice. It’s a well-known political strategy to switch ministers when the heat is on. And David Littleproud did exactly that right at the moment when he could have made a difference for irrigators who were desperate for affordable irrigation water. Instead, he got out of dodge to avoid having to do the hard work. Then Covid hit. The world changed and sadly we haven’t been able to get that water issue back onto the front burner since then.

But the lesson about David Littleproud still stands. In my opinion, David Littleproud lacks courage. He runs from a fight and is incapable of inspiring a movement, of leading a charge, and certainly incapable of capturing this moment in history as the Australian people are rejecting politics as usual and are looking for vision, looking for courage, looking for real leadership. And make no mistake, the Nationals must take the lead in this moment so that the Liberal Party over the next 12 months are forced to follow the Nationals in order to restore the coalition before the next federal election. The Nationals cannot be led by a man with a long history of running from a fight. The Nationals must stand their ground, come what may, no matter what the media says, no matter what the polls say, and force the Liberals to adopt their position as a condition of not running candidates against the Liberals in more seats at the next election.

So, understand that’s exactly what a coalition, this coalition between the Liberals and Nationals is. It’s an agreement between them that they won’t run candidates against each other in most lower house seats, that they’ll share Senate spots in the upper house, and that they will share ministerial positions when they form government together. The Nationals need to start gearing up to run a lot more candidates in lower house seats, specifically to increase their leverage over Sussan Ley and the Liberal Party to let them know that they need to come to the party and soon. And the time is right because the Liberal Party has set new lows for their support under Sussan Ley. She is visionless and unelectable, scoring a laughable 24% of the primary vote according to the latest essential poll with One Nation setting new highs of 15% and rising fast. And this is tied to Sussan Ley’s leadership specifically. She is less popular than Dutton was at his lowest. And we all know how that worked out.

This is the time for the Nationals to tighten the screws on the Liberals.

The Nationals need to work on a 12-month plan, not officially reforming the coalition with the Liberals and proving over the next 12 months to the electorate and to the Liberal Party that they really are actually serious about dumping net zero and that it’s not just a rebrand of net zero. That the policies that they will pursue going forward are going to be actually really substantially different and better for ordinary Australians and the Nationals need to begin their preparations to run candidates in every lower house seat outside of the major cities. Now, I don’t think they’ll actually have to do that. I do expect if the Nationals play their cards right, then the Liberal Party will come crawling back before the next election and will agree to the Nationals terms for a coalition.

But as part of that leverage, for that negotiation, the Nationals need to prove that they’re not afraid, that they’re willing to stand on their own two feet, that they are up for this fight, and they’ll go it alone if that’s what it takes. My question for the Nationals is, do you really think that David Littleproud is the man for that job? And understand the risk here, the risk to the Nationals, it’s One Nation. Because One Nation are rising fast in the polls at exactly the same time that the Liberals are collapsing. Why? Well, because One Nation have been consistently saying since the start the exact thing that the Nationals should always have been saying, that reducing emissions is pointless. It’s hurting our economy. It’s exporting our industry. It’s a self-inflicted wound for absolutely no gain for Australians. And that Australia should be governed for the benefit of Australians, not for globalists. It’s not hard.

Well, that is to say, it’s not hard now. It was hard. And Pauline Hansen and Malcolm Roberts and the many other members of the One Nation team deserve a huge amount of credit for being right early, for speaking the truth when it came at a cost, when it was politically and socially unpopular, unacceptable over the last 20 plus years. But the world is changing now. And one of two things is going to happen. Either the Nationals are going to make this pivot away from net zero, yes, but also away from any emissions reductions, away from all of the fear-mongering, the de-industrialization of Australia, and instead lay out a positive vision for a vibrant Australia that can stand on its own two feet. Or if they don’t do that, voters will continue to flock to the One Nation party because One Nation have been saying those things for decades and the electorate is finally ready to start listening.

The thing is, I don’t think that the Nationals can do what they need to do for as long as David Littleproud’s at the helm. He’s too compromised by his past positions. And in my opinion, he’s proved himself unwilling to have the big fights when they need to be had. As for Sussan Ley, well, I’ve said all I need to say about her leadership in past videos, and I won’t re-prosecute the case here. All I’ll say is that either the Liberal National Coalition go into the next federal election with new leadership in both the Nationals and the Liberals and with no net zero and pro-Australia as their central platforms or they will continue their slide into oblivion and One Nation will be handed a golden opportunity to become the reform of Australia.

The Nationals rejecting net zero is a great step.

Please don’t misunderstand me or think I’m being churlish, that I’m letting perfect be the enemy of good. This is a fantastic moment, much needed, and making it happen has taken courage and skill from some truly fantastic members of parliament as well as from people within the party itself to make this moment happen. Credit where it’s due, this is a moment to celebrate. But whilst this is a turning point no doubt and is reflective of the rapid change that is happening worldwide, it remains to be seen who will reap the rewards in Australia. A resurgent national liberal coalition under new management who can wholeheartedly and credibly lead Australia away from the climate madness and back into prosperity or whether this will be the moment that One Nation finally comes to the four as the party that have been on the right side of this issue since they began and who can credibly lead Australia away from the madness of net zero and back to being a nation that builds things and stands proudly on its own two beat.

The next year in Australian politics just got interesting. And the Topher project exists to help busy Australians like you to keep up with the world as it changes around us and to help you to cut through the crap and make sense of the nonsense that comes at us through the media and from our politicians. I am 100% viewer supported. So if you appreciate what I’m doing with the Topher project, then please help me to keep doing it by buying me a coffee via the button at topherfield.net. And if you like my videos, then you will love my no-nonsense books about government power, the perverse incentives that make Canberra the basket case that it is, and the role of civil disobedience in the modern world. You’ll find both of my books, plus the DVD of my multi-award-winning documentary Battleground Melbourne, plus my t-shirts and hoodies in a range of designs, including this Nyet zero design, which is my way of saying no to net zero. You’ll find all of that at goodpeoplebreakbadlaws.com.

Thank you for watching all the way to the end. The algorithm loves you for it and so do I. Please like, subscribe, leave a comment to let me know which way do you think this is going to go over the next year in Australia.

And as always, think free.