Liberal party MP Trent Zimmerman says he and fellow moderate MPs “prevailed” over the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, in securing a net zero climate target, saying the Nationals leader was opposed to the policy.
Zimmerman, a key Liberal party moderate facing a serious challenge to hang on to the North Sydney electorate from the independent Kylea Tink, told a Sky News debate on Thursday that he would push for “stronger” emissions targets if the Coalition was re-elected.
“Soon we will be putting forward our targets for 2035 and I’m going to be pushing for them to be even stronger still, as I’m sure they will be,” he said.
Zimmerman is among a group of Liberal party moderates, along with the Wentworth MP, Dave Sharma, and the federal treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, fighting off challenges from so-called “teal independents” on issues such as climate change in next month’s election.
During the debate, Zimmerman insisted he and other moderates had won a net zero commitment from the government despite the opposition from the junior Coalition partner.
“Barnaby Joyce was opposed to that,” he said. “On an issue like that we prevailed.”
He also disagreed with Nationals MP Matt Canavan’s comment that a target of net zero emissions by 2050 is “all over”.
“The prime minister is on my side on this and not Matt Canavan’s,” Zimmerman said.
“Thankfully [Canavan’s comments are] not the government policy. I took a position, along with a number of my colleagues, for net zero by 2050 and we fought really hard for it.”
He said the government “hasn’t been perfect”, and that he had “occasionally had the odd disagreement” on policies, including the religious discrimination bill which he crossed the floor to oppose.
Thursday’s debate, which also included Labor’s candidate in North Sydney, Catherine Renshaw, saw both major party candidates target Tink on who she would support in the event of a hung parliament.
Tink refused to say who she would support, insisting she would speak to both parties after the election. But she said her support would depend on stronger climate targets, the establishment of a federal integrity commission and vehicle emission standards.
Zimmerman and Renshaw seized on the refusal to say who she would support, with the Labor candidate saying it was “fundamental” to the independent’s integrity.
“The fact that both parties have actually put their policies on the table, you should be able to read those policies and say this most closely aligns with what I’m telling the people I’m going to do in Canberra,” Renshaw said.
“Especially if you’re running on an integrity platform.”
During the debate Zimmerman said he did not support controversial comments about trans people made by Liberal party candidate Katherine Deves, but stopped short of publicly calling for her to be disendorsed.
“I’ve made it very clear I don’t support Katherine Deves’ comments at all,” he said.
“Anyone who knows me and my record in parliament knows I’m someone who for six years stood up for LGBTI community. That has been important to me and who I am and so I find comments [that are] transphobic and homophobic particularly difficult.
“She is the candidate now [and] I have views about that that I have obviously conveyed within the party. She has apologised for her remarks as she should have.”
