It will take more convincing than I can muster to believe that Scott Morrison has his heart in net zero emissions by 2050. He has equivocated on this for months and even now will not legislate this target. Barnaby Joyce, still opposed to it, was never going to blow up the government because he would go up with it.

It was only the advent of Joe Biden with his renewed emphasis on combating the impact of anthropogenic climate change that has forced the federal government to scramble together a policy which has no modelling and which has been described by credible economists as a ‘do-nothing’ plan.

When David Speers politely asked Angus Taylor recently on Insiders for costings the latter would not commit beyond 2030. But the plan is meant to cover the period to 2050. Money, after all, has already been allocated for nuclear-powered submarines which we will only begin seeing in 2040.

The slogan “technology not taxes” is laughable. The technology transition will cost billions of dollars and that money will emanate from taxpayer funds.

The only thing going for the Coalition is that no matter how much they are criticised by the fringe parties of Pauline Hanson and Clive Palmer the preference votes of those parties will always come back to the government.

Frank Carroll