On Sunday, history was made. The National Party formally resolved to abandon the failed policy of Net Zero by 2050 and instead embrace the vision set out in the Page Research Centre’s landmark report Delivering a High Energy Australia.
Next week all eyes will be on Sussan Ley’s Liberals as they scramble to work out where the once great party of Menzies stands.
The National’s shift is a turning point for common sense. For years, Family First has warned that Net Zero is only putting pressure on families – and for no good reason.
The policy is an economic, engineering and environmental disaster — driving up power prices, hollowing out industries, and undermining Australia’s sovereignty.
Since 2022, Family First has showcased the folly of Net Zero at each of its three national conferences, with this year’s conference featuring Professor Ian Plimer and CIS energy policy researcher Jude Blik. Their talks are well worth watching.
The Nationals’ new position, grounded in the Page Research Centre’s research, confirms what Family First has been saying all along: energy policy must prioritise affordability, reliability and national strength, not ideology.
The facts speak for themselves. Since Australia signed up to Net Zero, household electricity prices have risen by 39 per cent, despite Labor’s broken promise of a $275 cut.
The Australian Energy Regulator’s own figures show typical power bills are up between $576 and $806 per household.
Over 7,000 manufacturing jobs have disappeared since 2020, and a staggering $120–140 billion of taxpayer funds have been committed to schemes like Rewiring the Nation, the Capacity Investment Scheme and hydrogen subsidies — all of which have failed to deliver cheaper or cleaner energy.
And for what? Australia produces just one per cent of global emissions. Yet we are cutting emissions at twice the rate of other advanced economies, and four times the global average.
Meanwhile, vast tracts of farmland and bush are being bulldozed for wind and solar projects, destroying the very environment this ideology claims to protect.
Independent estimates put the total cost of achieving Net Zero at between $7 and $9 trillion by 2060 — or roughly $250,000 per Australian. This is madness.
The Page Research Centre’s report lays out a better way: a High Energy Australia — one that harnesses our abundant coal, gas and uranium to deliver dependable and affordable power. It calls for a genuinely technology-neutral market that allows all energy sources, including nuclear, to compete on a level playing field.
Energy is the foundation of modern civilisation. When it is affordable and reliable, families prosper and industries thrive. When it is expensive and unstable, as Net Zero has made it, families struggle and jobs vanish.
Family First welcomes the Nationals’ courage to break free from the Net Zero delusion. The Liberal Party will meet next week to determine its own policy, with a decision expected by November 16.
But there is real concern that the Coalition may end up being “half pregnant” on the issue — trying to hedge between ideology and reality.
That would be a mistake. The choice is clear: either Australia commits to an affordable, reliable, and sovereign energy future — or it continues chasing a fantasy that only impoverishes its people.
Net Zero cannot be “fixed” or “rebalanced.” It must be dumped.
Family First urges the Liberals to follow the Nationals’ lead — to put Australian families, workers, and industries first, and to join the growing movement for a High Energy Australia.