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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called the Liberal Party's debate over net zero a "clown show" as the opposition threatens to tear itself apart over the issue. The Liberal Party held a five-hour-long meeting yesterday in Canberra to define its position on net zero, with the 2050 target first implemented by the Scott Morrison Coalition government in 2021. The gathering saw a majority of members voting for the party to scrap their commitment to the initiative, following the lead of the junior party in the Coalition, the Nationals. READ MORE: Crisis engulfs White House as Trump pressures allies on Epstein files Several conservative members of the party have driven the charge to ditch net zero, including Angus Taylor, the energy minister when net zero was initially legislated. Andrew Hastie has also spoken in favour of moving away from net zero, and recently resigned from the shadow cabinet as a result of multiple policy disagreements with Opposition Leader Sussan Ley. A photograph before yesterday's party room meeting showed Taylor, Hastie and several other opponents of net zero walking together in Parliament House towards the meeting. Albanese called the Liberals a "divided rabble" and said MPs had openly showed opposition to Ley's leadership. READ MORE: Warning as highly infectious disease detected at concert, tourist attractions "It's a show of division, was what it was," Albanese said at a press conference in Sydney today. "These were people who many of whom are either challenged or resigned from the frontbench. You had Angus Taylor walking with his counterparts. "This was a sign of opposition to Ley's leadership. "And it was a rather extraordinary moment, and the pictures were very deliberate for people to gather beforehand in formation in order to send that message." Albanese believed it was a powerful message for Australian voters, but for the wrong reasons. "It was a sign for the Australian people of how divided they are," he said. "The clown show they've become." READ MORE: Rumours growing about plot to overthrow UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer While a majority of sitting Liberal MPs have voted to move away from net zero, a sizeable number of MPs are against dropping the target, including Victorian MP Tim Wilson, who was the only Liberal to win back an inner-city seat at the last election. Shadow energy minister Dan Tehan said the Liberal Party viewed reducing power prices as a more important priority than reducing emissions, but Albanese claimed the opposition's plans would cause more problems than solutions. "The Coalition are choosing to take Australia backwards," he said. "They're walking away for jobs for Australians, and investment certainty for business." READ MORE: Former prince's name changes again after royal decree found The net zero target adopted by many major industrial nations was part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to limit warming to 1.5 degrees above the historical average. It is supported by a range of Australian scientific, medical and environmental bodies, as well as the Business Council of Australia. DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. Available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.
