Coalition support plunges further amid climate fighting
Zac de Silva and Melissa Meehan |
Support for her party is plunging to record lows amid a damaging internal fight over energy and climate policy but Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is vowing to continue taking the fight to Labor.
Ms Ley’s personal standing among voters has also taken a nosedive, according to the latest Newspoll, as MPs joust over the future direction of the coalition.
The party’s primary vote has dropped to 24 per cent, giving Labor a 57 to 43 lead on a two-party-preferred basis.
The figure is well below the coalition’s result at the May election, which severely depleted its numbers in parliament.
Ms Ley’s net approval rating crashed to minus 33, below that of former Liberal leader Peter Dutton on the eve of his election loss.
The under-pressure Liberal leader appeared alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday at Parliament House’s giving tree appeal, where she gifted a Lego aeroplane set, a Bluey-themed advent calendar and several books, including some on wombats.
Speaking to reporters after the event, she expressed confidence the Liberals and Nationals would be able to agree on energy and climate policies.
The Nationals have agreed to ditch their policy of net-zero emissions by 2050 but their senior coalition partner is still reviewing its approach to the issue.
“I’m looking forward to the work that will happen between now and the Liberal Party’s position becoming known, and then us sitting down together as two mature parties developing something that takes the fight up to the Labor party,” Ms Ley said.
“We need a government that is backing in our people with affordable, reliable energy and that’s clearly not the case.”
Liberal frontbencher Anne Ruston, who was reported to be the only member of Ms Ley’s leadership team in favour of keeping a commitment to net zero, said her side of the coalition was in the “final stages” of developing its energy policy.
“We’ve been having very respectful conversations with each other,” she told Sky News.
AAP
