Abbott and Joyce continue to undermine Coalition on National Energy Guarantee

Former PM Tony Abbott had made a final attempt to undermine the Coalition on the National Energy Guarantee.

Mr Abbott alleged that the Government was creating an ā€œobsessionā€ around emissions and reiterated his calls to scrap the Paris climate deal he agreed to while in office.

The NEG will be discussed by Coalition MPs in a party meeting tomorrow, following a meeting between the Federal Energy Minister and his state counterparts that took place on Friday.

Industry insiders and business interest groups have urged the Government to support the plan, saying that it would help reduce prices and improve reliability.

Mr Abbott has said that he disagrees with the groups that are lobbying in the interest of business. He said that they were ā€œbeing polite to the Governmentā€ due to the fact they ā€œappreciate that Labor would be even worseā€.

He went on to say that it was ā€œa bit sadā€ that the government was ā€œdeveloping emissions obsessionsā€ after ostensibly being elected to end the same behaviour from Labor.

Mr Abbott then made a clumsy attempt to re-appropriate a speech made by former Prime Minister John Howard in 2001 referring to asylum seekers. In his version, Abbott instead spoke about energy policy rather than immigration.

Barnaby Joyce, the former deputy prime minister, also took aim at the Paris agreement, citing that everyday Australian didnā€™t care about it.

Now it seems both Mr Abbott and Mr Joyce have signalled they may cross the parliamentary floor to vote against the NEG.

Christian Woods
Christian Woods
Christian is a morning reporter and technology columnist for Best in Australia. Christian has worked in the media since 2000, in a range of locations. He joined Best in Australia in 2018, and began working in Melbourne in 2019.
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