One Nation's rise dragging Liberals on net zero

 29 January 2026

One Nation’s surge in the polls is dragging the Liberals to publicly walk away from radical net zero targets but it’s too little, too late for many South Australians struggling with record energy bills.

One Nation SA Legislative Council candidate Carlos Quaremba said the Liberals could not be trusted to reduce energy costs for South Australian households and businesses.

“Last year we heard the previous Liberal leader fully commit the party to implementing the economic self-harm that is net zero,” Mr Quaremba said. “Are we really supposed to believe they’re walking away from it under Ashton Hurn?

“While Ms Hurn’s comments about scrapping renewables targets are welcome, I don’t think we’d be hearing them if the Liberals weren’t haemorrhaging support and votes to One Nation which has a very clear policy to not just scrap targets but dismantle net zero altogether.

“It’s easy to say you’ll prioritise energy affordability over renewables targets when you’re looking at polls showing you’re facing a bloodbath at the election. The time for the Liberals to act decisively to reduce energy costs was when they were in government. They didn’t. They allowed power bills to keep rising because they were committed to renewables targets and net zero in government.

“South Australia’s energy bills are the highest in the nation, and it’s no coincidence we also have the highest penetration of renewables in the nation. Reports this week showed that despite Labor’s promises otherwise, renewables can’t power the state on their own and have left our grid more fragile and vulnerable than ever to weather shocks and events. We need coal and gas for cheaper, more reliable power.

“One Nation’s energy policy doesn’t just scrap net zero. It includes a brand new 500MW black coal ultra-supercritical power plant at Port Augusta. Coal-fired energy can be delivered consistently and reliably at around half the average National Electricity Market (NEM) price that prevailed in 2024.

“The Liberals are very late to this party, and we’ve all seen their internal divisions over net zero. Those divisions haven’t gone away. Pauline Hanson and One Nation have been showing the principled leadership on cheaper and more reliable energy that Australians have been wanting for many years. We stand against net zero, for getting out of the Paris Agreement, for banning offshore wind and for banning renewables and transmission lines on farms. We stand for cheaper and more reliable energy for all South Australians.”

ENDS