Liberals debate abandoning net zero target behind closed doors
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Liberal MPs remain locked in a party room meeting to resolve their position on net zero emissions.
The meeting has been running for more than two hours and could drag long into the afternoon as MPs argue the case for against retaining the Scott Morrison-era commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
The bitter internal dispute has pitted conservatives, who want all references to net zero dumped, against moderates, who want it retained in some form, meaning Sussan Ley will face an internal backlash regardless of where the party lands.
In a show of factional force ahead of the meeting, more than a dozen conservatives – including Angus Taylor and fellow potential leadership contender Andrew Hastie – walked into the Parliament House meeting room together.
The federal Liberal party director, Andrew Hirst, briefed the meeting on internal research on voter attitudes toward net zero and the energy transition before MPs made their contribution.
One Liberal source said Hirst told MPs that voters equated net zero with taking action on climate change.
The shadow communications minister, Melissa McIntosh, emailed supporters with the text of the message that she planned to deliver at the meeting.
The message read:
We need to abandon net zero and give the Australian people hope. We need a short, medium and long term energy policy. We need 24/7 baseload power to back our sovereign manufacturing, including more gas. We need nuclear to power the future of our nation – the big data centres – to protect our information and our sovereign communications. We need to prioritise our nation when it comes to our natural resources.
Key events
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Taylor confirms opposition to net zero
The senior Liberal Angus Taylor wants the party to move on from net zero and create a point of political difference with Labor, siding with senior colleagues in calling for the climate target to be dumped at Wednesday’s party-room meeting.
The intervention from the right-faction heavyweight is significant because he’s considered, along with Andrew Hastie, the biggest threat to Sussan Ley’s leadership.
It’s worth noting that Taylor was energy minister when Scott Morrison signed up to a net zero emissions by 2050 in late 2021.
As reported earlier, the deputy Liberal leader,Ted O’Brien, and Liberal senate leader,Michaelia Cash, also spoke in favour of ditching the target at the Parliament House meeting, which has now been running for more than four hours.
While we wait for the Liberals to finish their meeting on net zero policy, here’s an explainer on what it’s all about.
Josh Butler
Indonesia security treaty will provide stability and security for both nations, Wong says
Going back to the Indonesia security treaty, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says Australia and Indonesia will “both benefit from each other’s stability and sense of security”.
Wong said in a statement it would be a “significant extension” of current security arrangements between the two countries. She said the treaty will commit both parties to:
Undertake to consult at Leader and Ministerial level on a regular basis about matters affecting their common security and to develop such cooperation as would benefit their own security and that of the region;
Undertake to consult each other in the case of adverse challenges to either party or to their common security interests and, if appropriate, consider measures which might be taken either individually or jointly and in accordance with the processes of each Party; and
Agree to promote – in accordance with the policies and priorities of each – mutually beneficial cooperative activities in the security field, in areas to be identified by the two Parties.
Wong went on to say:
Through this Treaty we will take our cooperation to a new level, for the benefit of both our own security and that of the region.
The Treaty will set out in formal terms our common interest in the peace and security of our region, and our commitment to work together to support the security of our region.
Penry Buckley
Police release CCTV footage after media allegedly assaulted outside NSW parliament
Police have released CCTV footage after a man allegedly assaulted two members of the media outside NSW parliament yesterday, after stealing a wreath from a Remembrance Day memorial.
In a statement this afternoon, NSW police said officers commenced inquiries yesterday morning after reports a man was seen behaving in “an offensive manner”. They said:
“Police established about 7am, the man stole a wreath from a police memorial at a park on Sir John Young Crescent. From there he walked to Parliament House where he approached members of the media and allegedly assaulted two members of the media before throwing a cup of coffee at a camera.”
CCTV footage shows the man then allegedly throwing the wreath over the fence of Parliament House on Macquarie Street. Police allege he later struck the rear of a car being driven into a nearby car park, causing damage, before leaving the scene.
“No injuries were reported, and the news crew left the area before police arrived,” the statement said. Police have urged anyone who identifies the man, or has information about the incidents, to contact Crime Stoppers.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Senior Liberals confirm opposition to net zero emissions
Senior Liberals – including Sussan Ley’s deputy, Ted O’Brien – have confirmed their opposition to net zero emissions at a party room meeting, heightening the prospects that the target will be dumped.
The Liberal Senate leader, Michaelia Cash, also spoke strongly against the target at Wednesday’s meeting, urging colleagues to fight against net zero like it did the Indigenous voice to parliament at the 2023 referendum, sources told Guardian Australia.
On the other side of the ledger, moderate Liberals Andrew Bragg, Jane Hume and Julian Lesser have all made the case to retain the target in some form, as has Andrew McLachlan – the party’s most pro-climate member.
Henry Belot
Asio warning ‘a wake-up call’, Liberals say
The shadow minister for cybersecurity, Claire Chandler, says today’s warning of cyber espionage and sabotage from Australia’s intelligence agency should be “a wake-up call for Australians”.
Mike Burgess accused “Chinese hackers” of seeking to gain access to critical infrastructure assets, including telecommunications networks.
Chandler has urged the government to take the threat seriously:
Members of the Coalition, myself included, have warned for years about risks from foreign actors, particularly the CCP and Russia, targeting our critical infrastructure.
Australians deserve confidence that our essential services – like power, water, transport and banking – are secure. Cyber sabotage could cripple our economy and endanger lives.
We need urgent, coordinated action to embed security into every layer of critical infrastructure before it’s too late, and I certainly hope the Albanese government tackles this with the resources and urgency required.
Australia and Indonesia conclude negotiations on bilateral treaty on security
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the Indonesia president, Prabowo Subianto, are holding a press conference in Sydney on the substantial conclusion of negotiations on a bilateral treaty on security.
Albanese said it is a “watershed moment” in the Australia-Indonesia relationship.
It would see the two countries consult at a leader and ministerial level on a regular basis on matters of security, and if either country’s security is threatened, to consult and consider what measures may be taken to either individually or jointly deal with those threats, Albanese said.
He said the relationship between the two countries is the strongest it has ever been, and Albanese said he hopes to travel to Indonesia in January to formally sign the treaty once it has gone through the Australian domestic process.
Subianto said the treaty will commit the two nations to close cooperation on defence and security:
I mentioned many times that we cannot choose our neighbours, especially countries like us. It is our destiny to be direct neighbours. So let us face our destiny with the best of intentions. I believe in the good neighbour policy. Good neighbours are essential. Good neighbours will help each other in times of difficulties and in the Indonesian culture we have a saying: when we face an emergency, it is our neighbour that will help us.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Hastie says Coalition should be prepared to fight double-dissolution election on climate targets
The Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has told colleagues that a future Coalition government should be prepared to go to a double-dissolution election if it can’t repeal Labor’s legislated climate targets in the federal parliament.
The Liberal leadership aspirant and strident net zero opponent made the appeal at Wednesday’s party room meeting to decide whether to dump the emissions goal.
According to several sources in the room, the Western Australian MP told colleagues that the Coalition should commit to repealing the Albanese government’s legislated 2030 and 2050 climate targets if it wins the next election.
If the Senate repeatedly blocks a repeal bill, Hastie said a Coalition government should be prepared to go to a double-dissolution election and fight a campaign on climate targets.
In a moment of levity, what is the best wheat cracker in Australian supermarkets?
Nicholas Jordan risks it for the biscuits, sampling 19 wheat crackers in the driest taste test yet.
He sorted several hundred crackers into a complicated family tree-like categorisation system, then sorted that based on the following criteria: size and structure designed for dips, cheese and platters; unflavoured; and wheat-based. This left Jordan with 19 products, a mix of classic, water and wafer crackers.
So, what came out on top? Jatz are, predictably, awesome. So are the products trying to be like Jatz.
Read more here:
Donna Lu
Anti-renewables conservation charity grilled over use of AI in government submissions
A Queensland conservation charity known for its anti-renewables stance has been grilled over its use of artificial intelligence in submissions to government, in a fiery Senate hearing looking into the broader issue of climate change-related misinformation.
The Labor senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah questioned Rainforest Reserves Australia over errors in submissions it made to the Queensland government over the proposed Moonlight Range windfarm, a development the state government ultimately rejected.
Referring to a submission, Ananda-Rajah said:
Seven of the 15 references you cite in opposition to this windfarm appear to be completely fabricated.
Ananda-Rajah also questioned the group over errors in its submissions, reported in the Guardian, such as mention of an “Oakey Wind Farm”, which does not exist, and reference to a 2023 report by the “Queensland Environmental Protection Agency”, which has not existed since 2009.
When asked whether AI was used to generate the submission, Steven Nowakowski, the RRA’s vice-president, said:
It was actually written by a human and artificial intelligence was used to edit it.
Kenneth Carey, an RRA supporter, said:
In regards to the use of AI within any submissions from Rainforest Reserves, we acknowledge minor factual corrections may be necessary in any large evolving data set …
The [EPA] examples that we provided are from a department that no longer exists, however, it has changed its name, so that data itself is absolutely correct.
Ananda-Rajah said:
The Oakey windfarm is a complete fabrication … Is it not conceivable given your reliance on AI, given the sloppiness of your own work, that you have misled community members? … You have undermined your own credibility.
In a previous response to Guardian reporting, an RRA volunteer said the citation relating to Oakey windfarm was “misattributed” but was “intended to illustrate a real and serious issue”.
Liberals debate abandoning net zero target behind closed doors
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Liberal MPs remain locked in a party room meeting to resolve their position on net zero emissions.
The meeting has been running for more than two hours and could drag long into the afternoon as MPs argue the case for against retaining the Scott Morrison-era commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050.
The bitter internal dispute has pitted conservatives, who want all references to net zero dumped, against moderates, who want it retained in some form, meaning Sussan Ley will face an internal backlash regardless of where the party lands.
In a show of factional force ahead of the meeting, more than a dozen conservatives – including Angus Taylor and fellow potential leadership contender Andrew Hastie – walked into the Parliament House meeting room together.
The federal Liberal party director, Andrew Hirst, briefed the meeting on internal research on voter attitudes toward net zero and the energy transition before MPs made their contribution.
One Liberal source said Hirst told MPs that voters equated net zero with taking action on climate change.
The shadow communications minister, Melissa McIntosh, emailed supporters with the text of the message that she planned to deliver at the meeting.
The message read:
We need to abandon net zero and give the Australian people hope. We need a short, medium and long term energy policy. We need 24/7 baseload power to back our sovereign manufacturing, including more gas. We need nuclear to power the future of our nation – the big data centres – to protect our information and our sovereign communications. We need to prioritise our nation when it comes to our natural resources.
Henry Belot
Asio boss says foreign delegate ‘ripped the branch off a fruit tree’
Earlier today we brought you details of Asio director-general Mike Burgess’ speech, which accused Chinese hackers of attempting to penetrate critical infrastructure.
Burgess also warned about an increase in corporate espionage targeting Australia’s research and development sectors.
He cited one example of a foreign delegation being given a tour of an unnamed research facility in Australia. He alleged one member of the group briefly broke away from their escort and was caught taking photos of a laboratory. The photos were subsequently deleted.
Burgess says the unnamed visitor managed to steal an object from the facility:
What they didn’t discover was [the delegate] ripped the branch off a fruit tree that was a special breed with 20 years of research and development put into it. They stole it and would have taken it back to their home country to reverse engineer it.
That’s outright intellectual property theft, happening at a scale that is unprecedented in human history. More than one nation has done that over the years. Right now, there is one nation that is doing a lot of that.
Aurora alert for southern Australia as severe solar storm reaches earth
Australian skies may be lit up with the technicolour of aurora tonight as an unusually severe solar storm affects the Earth’s atmosphere.
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued an aurora alert for as far north as southern New South Wales, with Australian space weather forecasting centre data showing the strong solar storm is in progress.
Aurora australis is expected to be seen in night-time hours, provided skies are clear.
The bureau said three coronal mass ejections were observed between 9 and 11 November. The second and strongest of the CMEs was expected to reach earth today, with a chance the geomagnetic storm could reach G5 in strength.
According to Nasa, G5 solar storms can trip high-voltage lines, overheat transformers and cause GPS-guided vehicles to veer off-course.
Another big aurora graced Australia’s south-eastern skies in June, as seen in our gallery below:
Luca Ittimani
Australian travellers heading back to the US, Flight Centre says
Australians are starting to book more trips to the United States after being deterred in the early months of Donald Trump’s presidency, Flight Centre has reported.
Workers, entertainers, academics and gender-diverse Australians are among those who faced incidents or warnings over US border protocols earlier this year. The backlash saw a drop in long-haul US flights booked through Flight Centre in the first half of the year.
But the travel agency this morning said that was turning around, with Graham Turner, Flight Centre’s founder, telling investors:
We are, however, starting to see signs of recovery … Bookings from Australia to the US increased in October 2025 for the first time since the March quarter.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics today confirmed Australians’ aversion to US travel had persisted into September, with just 58,610 residents returning from American holidays that month compared with more than 67,000 in 2024.
The September month data represents residents returning from trips they booked and took up to a year beforehand US government arrivals data up to August also shows a decline.
But on a wider view, Australians’ US travel has been relatively resilient through 2025 so far, totalling 541,000 by September compared with 546,000 for the same period to 2024.
