President says the party’s young membership understands the risk if no climate change action is taken

The New South Wales division of the Young Liberals’ push for a change in the government’s climate policy was spurred on by a membership which understands the risk it faces if no action is taken, its president has said.

The NSW branch passed a motion at the Young Liberal council in early December calling for a “practical, market-based means” for Australia to cut emissions by 30% of Kyoto levels by 2030, and provide energy market certainty.

The motion puts them at odds with the Morrison government, which has stubbornly insisted no change is needed to Australia’s emissions reduction strategy, even as the nation struggles through an unprecedented and deadly bushfire crisis, but is in line with the views of the NSW environment minister, Matt Kean, who has demanded more action.

The NSW Young Liberal president, Chaneg Torres, said his branch was just doing its job.

'Doing nothing is not a solution': Matt Kean blames climate crisis for bushfires Read more

“The Young Liberals exist within the party to reflect the views of young people, to our MPs, to our wider party, and I think from our point of view, climate change is a particularly important issue for our generation because it concerns the actions of today affecting the lives and quality of life of my generation, but also generations to come,” he said.

“And we certainly understand that it is a risk that we will particularly face, my generation, if nothing is done in the present.”

Torres did not go so far as to criticise the Morrison government, which he said had its “heart in the right place”.

“And the prime minister has said very clearly that his government and the Liberal party generally accepts the reality of climate change and accepts the need for action,” he said.

“But this is an area of policy that has been fraught for many years. I think that, in many ways, the policy well has been poisoned and it has been a very divisive issue in our community.

“And I think that in many ways the government has to deal with that fact.

“From our point of view, as a young liberal movement, we are reflecting the views of our generation and providing encouragement to the government to take the issue seriously and do what they can to ensure they is a stable and certain policy environment where investment can be made in renewable energy.”

Part of the plan endorsed by the division includes taxation write-offs for green assets, a nationwide solar scheme, and repealing the state and federal ban on nuclear energy so it can be considered for baseload power, as well as increased investment in hydro.

The Queensland Young LNP also passed motions calling for nuclear energy to be explored as part of a push to lower emissions at its last conference, but did not go as far as the NSW branch in calling for an emissions reduction blueprint.

2019 was Australia's hottest year on record – 1.5C above average temperature Read more

The NSW branch will send a brief to its state and federal MPs, which are in power at both levels. But Torres said he understood the difficulties, with MPs such as Craig Kelly – an influential backbencher in the party room – still denying the need for any action.

“Well, as you know, the Liberal party is a very broad church, but I would say that the youth wing of the party, the vast majority of us believe in the need to take action on climate change and actually I’d say the majority of our membership generally in the Liberal party believe that things need to be done to address climate change,” he said.

“I think the vast majority of Liberals would agree with what the prime minister said that we don’t need to choose between a strong economy and action on climate change.

“Now we can have a debate about what particular measures we need to take, but I think that the vast majority would agree that climate change is real and the action needs to be taken.”

The NSW division, like the state environment minister, Matt Kean, who made similar comments, has received some pushback from within the party and its supporters for its stance, which Torres would not comment on.

But it did receive support from other Young Liberals who said things needed to change.

“NSW are being proactive about what real Young Liberals stand for and the other states need to grow a spine,” one senior member said.

“Federally, the Young Libs have a policy vacuum and we haven’t got anything to move away from the previous president’s controversial positions on the ABC, gay marriage and Muslim immigration.”