Leading Liberal moderate and Senate leader Simon Birmingham supported Mr Dutton’s approach.
“We should not be making promises that cannot be met or cannot be realised,” Senator Birmingham said of Labor’s legislated 2030 target, about which there is considerable scepticism that it can be met.
“We see that the promised trajectory towards renewable energy targets by 2030 is not being met and that does cast doubt over the targets.
“Failure to meet those would, of course, be a blow to Australia’s standing and reputation, which is why reassessing them does make sense.”
Senator Birmingham said the Coalition, of elected, would stay committed to net zero emissions by 2050 and would release five-yearly milestone targets as required under the 2015 Paris climate change accord.
Weighing into the debate, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said if Mr Dutton “rips up” Labor’s 2030 target, “that will send a shiver up the spine of the Australian investment community”.
“One of the reasons we have these targets is to provide certainty to investors, to businesses and to workers so that everybody knows our ambition and everybody knows what we’re working towards,” he said.
“If Peter Dutton rips that up, that will create extreme investor uncertainty. It will damage our economy and our workers, businesses, employers and investors will be poorer for it.”