By Australian Associated,Editor,Max Aldred

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READ MORE: Anthony Albanese accused of ‘bald face lie’ over net-zero plan

By MAX ALDRED, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA and AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: 15:27 BST, 19 September 2025 | Updated: 15:35 BST, 19 September 2025

Sussan Ley has been forced to clean up an embarrassing blunder after she accidentally suggested she did not believe in setting climate targets.

The Albanese government announced its 2035 climate target on Thursday, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 62 and 70 per cent compared to 2005 levels.

The Opposition attacked the target as ‘built on fantasy’, with Ley later forced to correct some of her comments.

During a press conference in Lonsdale in Adelaide on Friday, she said the Coalition ‘don’t believe in setting targets at all, from opposition or from government’.

Ley and her team walked away from the podium only for one staffer to rush back and awkwardly call reporters back.

‘Sorry, guys. Just one second. We’ve just got to add to that,’ a staffer said.

Ley then awkwardly tried to clarify that the Coalition only did not support setting targets while in opposition.

‘What I meant to say was that I don’t support the targets that the government sets while we’re in opposition, so I misspoke,’ she said.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley (above) had to walk back comments about climate targets in an awkward press conference moment on Friday in Adelaide

‘We do, of course, recognise the importance of targets in government when we have the full information in front of us, which we don’t have,’ Ley said.

The Prime Minister jumped on the error, saying Ley had made ‘bizarre comments’ and that the Coalition ‘changes its policies from hour to hour’.

‘It says it all, if the opposition aren’t clear from minute to minute, let alone in any considered way,’ he said.

It comes as Anthony Albanese refused to promise power bills will be cheaper for households under the freshly announced climate action.

While emissions may be falling, he would not repeat a Labor pledge made prior to the 2022 election that power prices would also go down.

‘The modelling is out there, and you can see the modelling,’ he said on Friday.

‘I can guarantee that the cheapest form of new energy is renewables.’

The Climate Change Authority cited Australian Energy Market Commission projections that average household energy costs would be around $1,000 cheaper in 2035 than now.

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen (above, left, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers, right) tempered excitement over hopes for Australians getting household savings

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But Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen also tempered expectations of a hip pocket win for household savings.

‘That’s not a political promise. It’s a statement of modelling by expert agencies,’ he told reporters in Sydney.

In December 2021, Albanese relied on independent modelling to promise a $275 power bill cut – benefits that have not materialised.

Grattan Institute energy and climate change senior fellow Tony Wood said the new policy was unlikely to produce significant change in power prices.

‘I am not one of those people who would argue that we’re going to see electricity prices come down significantly from where they are now,’ he said.

‘The most likely situation outlook would be that they broadly stay around a bit where they are now.

‘But if we could do that and reduce our emissions… we’d be making dramatic improvement on the environmental side with a very, very small if any cost on the power side.’

The emissions target has been attacked as ‘built on fantasy’ by the opposition.

Australia first committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 under the coalition government led by Scott Morrison in 2021.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) blasted the opposition leader’s ‘bizarre statements’, saying the coalition changed its policies ‘from hour to hour’

Both the Liberal and National parties are engaged in heated debate over whether to continue supporting the net zero goal.

As part of the measures, $5billion will be set aside from an existing industry fund to cut emissions in hard-to-abate heavy industry.

The 2035 target provoked a range of reactions, with environmental groups hoping for more ambition and the business sector warning even the lower end of the range would be challenging.

The contribution to global emission cuts landed days after a dire report on Australia’s expected climate impacts, including a warning that 1.5 million people could be exposed to coastal hazards from rising seas by 2050.

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