The Liberal Party is set to join its coalition partner, the Nationals, in dropping any reference to net zero in its emissions policy. Following a marathon four hours and 45-minute party room meeting yesterday, no decision was announced, and a vote will be held today. At yesterday’s meeting, 49 MPs spoke, and according to media reports, 28 wanted to abandon any mention of net zero, 17 wanted to keep it, and four were unclear. Opposition Leader Sussan Ley’s main rival, Angus Taylor, backed calls to dump net zero as did her main numbers person, Alex Hawke. So too did Ley’s deputy and shadow Treasurer Ted O’Brien. Moderates who supported keeping net zero as a target by 2050 argued that the party risked losing younger voters.

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News in brief

The slide in Commonwealth Bank’s share price continues with the ASX’s largest company now down ten per cent in the past five sessions. While CBA is off 13 per cent this financial year ANZ is up 33 per cent, Westpac is up 20 per cent and NAB is up nine per cent.

The social media ban for under 16-year-olds is now less than a month away and online platforms are beginning to contact teenagers to tell them they need to make a decision about data in their accounts. Over one million accounts are likely to be contacted in coming days, with users offered a choice of downloading data, freezing profiles, or losing the lot.

Foreign visitor arrivals to Australia have finally returned to pre-COVID levels with New Zealand accounting for nearly 20 per cent of arrivals. China remains below pre-pandemic levels, while arrivals from the UK, Singapore, India, South Korea and Indonesia have all surpassed 2019 figures.

Menulog, the Australian food delivery platform famous for its advertisements involving Snoop Dogg and Katy Perry, will close on the back of hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.

Legendary investor Warren Buffet has penned one of his final letters to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders saying he will speed up his plans to give away much of his $150 billion personal fortune to his children’s philanthropic foundations.

Fear-o-meter

Does the electorate care about the Liberal Party’s view on net zero? Probably not. This struggle is more about Sussan Ley’s leadership.

Taking climate change first. The Liberal Party signed Australia up to net zero at the Scotland COP Summit in 2021. Then Labor won power, and we had the nuclear debate, which blew up Peter Dutton.

All the while, the Teals were doing a good job of winning over moderate Liberal voters on the back of a bunch of issues, including climate change. At the other end of the spectrum, One Nation picked up support among conservatives that didn’t believe in climate change initiatives.

Sussan Ley, who only just won the vote against Angus Taylor to be Liberal Party leader, has not been able to establish herself as the boss of the party. The short-lived split with the Nationals did not help, nor has the climate change debate more broadly.

Ley does not have the unwavering support of some of the biggest names in the party, and that will, ultimately, be terminal. She will last till Christmas, but it is hard to see her as leader of the Liberals in 12 months’ time.

Fear & Greed Q+A today

Is the economy too strong for an interest rate cut next year? Sean Aylmer and Michael Thompson look at the run of positive economic data, and what it means for interest rates, for small business and for homeowners:

"Take the homeowner side of the equation, we all want lower interest rates, right? But we've had three cuts already. Most people, the majority, are still paying the higher rate of interest. If the economy picks up, also if your house is suddenly up 9% for the year, the wealth effect kicks in big time. So I don't mind if my house is going to keep appreciating and I'm still paying more because I've never changed my repayments from that. I'm not hanging for lower interest rates.

 

The other thing, and this is what many economists have been predicting for a long time, we had the global financial crisis, right? ...That whole period in the run up between the GFC and COVID falling, staying low, ultra low in COVID. Now we are back to more normal. The cash rate is 3.6%. Let's say you're paying five point something for your home. That's sort of normal. What we were paying before wasn't normal. So people should really get used to this type of interest rate."

Greed-o-meter

Which former Prime Minister has racked up the most taxpayer-funded expenses so far this year? This includes costs ranging from office facilities to flights (but not office staff or pensions).

Source: The Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority, reported in Nine newspapers

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