Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Emergency Management and National Recovery and Resilience) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much for the question, Senator Ayres. I've made it very, very clear that we as a party room are considering the question of committing to net zero by 2050 and what the implications are for rural and regional Australia. Labor senator after Labor senator is going to quote me Liberal Party senators. Well, they don't sit in my party room. The people who are actually considering this question are National Party senators and MPs, who have been very, very clear—whether it's Anne Webster, who a couple of months ago said, 'We're not signing up to a blank cheque,', whether it's Matt Canavan—you can probably catch him this evening on Sky—who has often made his views, very, very clear on this issue, or whether it's Senator Perin Davey. On Chris Kenny's show, she made it very, very clear that it's our agriculturists and our farmers who paid the price of our Kyoto targets.

This may not resonate for you because you don't live where we live and you don't serve the people we serve. Out of sight is out of mind for the major parties in this building.

So it is the National Party who, once again, stand before a policy that, if not implemented appropriately, will severely impact on rural and regional Australia and will severely impact on mining, agriculture and manufacturing. We need to make sure that we've assessed the plan that's being put to us to understand the implications and to proceed in a calm and reasonable manner, with the Liberal Party, on a pathway forward. (Time expired)