THE Liberal Party on Thursday announced a new direction in energy and emissions policy, with plans to putting affordable energy and the cost of living at the centre of Australia’s economic future.

Leader of the Opposition, Sussan Ley and Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Dan Tehan said in a joint statement the Liberal Party’s priority will be to deliver affordable energy for families and businesses, while continuing to reduce emissions responsibly.

“Our priority is energy affordability and getting costs down for households and businesses,” Ms Ley said.

“The Liberal Party is committed to the Paris Agreement and responding to climate change in a way that is affordable, responsible and achievable.”

Under the plan, affordable and reliable energy will always come first, the Liberal Party says, with emissions reduction goals never coming at the expense of Australian families.

To keep faith with that commitment, the Liberal Party will remove a net zero target from policy and, if elected, will remove Labor’s 43 per cent 2030 target and its net zero by 2050 target from the Climate Change Act 2022.

The party remains committed to the Paris Agreement and to doing its share to reduce emissions in a way that protects household budgets and keeps the economy strong.

“Our approach will not impose new mandates, nor set interim targets from Opposition. Instead, we will reduce emissions on average year on year as we did when last in government, in line with comparable countries and as fast and as far as technologies allow without imposing mandated costs.”

Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley and deputy leader Ted O’Brien.

The Opposition plans to harness all available energy technologies to bring prices down, keep the grid stable and reduce emissions responsibly.

This includes maintaining baseload power, supporting all forms of generation where it is required, unlocking new gas supply, and lifting the ban on zero emissions nuclear energy, which is already used or being developed in 19 of the world’s 20 richest countries.

“Our approach is simple. More affordable energy and lower emissions so that we can support households and businesses, and whilst doing our fair share,” Mr Tehan said.

“Our responsibility is to fix a broken system and deliver energy Australians can afford.”

The Liberal Party says its direction is affordable, reliable and responsible, built to ease bills, secure supply and reduce emissions without placing extra pressure on families or industry.

“Our focus is on results Australians can afford, not targets Australia cannot meet.” Mr Tehan said.

“While it is not our policy to set long-term targets, Net Zero would be a welcome outcome, if achieved through technology, choice and voluntary markets.”

Over the past 20 years, Australia has reduced its emissions by 28 per cent, while comparable developed countries have reduced theirs by around 16 per cent on average, and global emissions have continued to rise.

For two decades, Australia has been reducing emissions at more than one-and-a-half times the average rate of other developed nations, cutting around 9 million tonnes each year.

To reach net zero by 2050, Australia would need to reduce emissions by around 17 million tonnes per year, which is double the rate achieved over the past two decades.