Net zero is deceased, it has gone to meet its maker, it is no more, it has shaken off its mortal coil, it has fallen off the twig, it is pushing up daisies, it has run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible. It is an ex-policy! With apologies to Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Now, the Coalition are talking about backing all forms of energy, from nuclear to fossil fuels or renewables; whichever allows the market to provide the cheapest energy. Is this the Coalition’s ‘Drill, baby, drill’?

The declared death last week of ‘net zero by 2050’ by the Liberal party, following on from a similar declaration by the Nationals, and now endorsed by the Coalition is an astonishing achievement. This magazine was incensed when as prime minister Scott Morrison betrayed all those conservatives who had worked so hard to secure him the ‘miracle’ election, and we have toiled relentlessly since that ignominious Cop 26 to restore sanity to the centre-right.

There is one fly in the ointment, of course, and that is the silly decision to stay committed to the Paris Agreement. The reasons are self-evident, but anything that gives the ‘moderates’ (they should actually be known as the ‘zealots’) within the party even the slimmest of lifelines back to the climate change/renewables agenda is extremely foolhardy and dangerous.

However, only a few months ago it seemed highly unlikely that the abandonment of net zero was even remotely possible. It is clear that certain powerful and rapacious renewables lobbyists and investors have their fangs sunk deep into the jugular of the modern Liberal party and are feverishly sucking the lifeblood out of it. Never before has the Liberal party sunk so low in the polls. The last election was a disaster. The new leader has failed to impress the punters, at least up until now. Many voters have fled the party and sought comfort in the arms of One Nation, who now ride at an astonishing 18 per cent in the polls (as predicted by our columnist James Allan a couple of months ago). As has been noted, One Nation, arguably, now outpolls the Liberal party.

All of which can be pinned directly onto the so-called ‘moderates’ and the remnants of the Turnbull era. The damage wrought by the defenestration of Tony Abbott still plagues the party, all these years later.

Opposing the Voice was the first critical step that the Coalition took to repair that damage, and to start to rebuild itself as a viable representative of mainstream, middle Australia and of Menzies’ ‘forgotten people’. Needless to say, it was the moderates and the Turnbullites who were so keen to say Yes to the Voice. But rather than learning the lesson of the Voice, Peter Dutton and the moderates decided a far smarter strategy was to return to the ‘Labor-lite’ approach, which included staying committed to net zero, staying committed to high immigration and refusing to challenge a host of other woke, ‘moderate’ cultural touchstones. That decision – deservedly – delivered the Liberals their worst ever election result.

Conservatives eagerly cheered on Peter Dutton, assuming, incorrectly, that after the Voice victory he had proven he was ‘one of us’. Sadly, that was not the case. Similarly, many conservatives have eagerly dismissed new leader Sussan Ley, assuming that, given her backing by the moderates, she is ‘not one of us’. That may well be the case, but her ability to bring the Liberal party to the point of undoing the Morrison-Frydenberg net zero disaster should be recognised and strongly applauded. Perhaps this is the high point of her leadership period, and it is now time for others to take over the task of selling the new policy to the public. Or perhaps not. It was encouraging to see how – unlike the hapless Dan Tehan – she was able to dismiss the question of the Paris Agreement as something she could easily deal and was only of concern to a handful of globalist bureaucrats. If she maintains that approach she may succeed. But if she carries on turning up on the ABC banging on about how her policy will ‘lower emissions’ she will not last.

This week, Rebecca Weisser and Tom Switzer look at the strengths and weaknesses of Ms Ley and those who might oppose or even replace her.

This magazine, like at least two-thirds of this country, is desperate to be rid of the current hard-core socialist government and longs for a return to common sense, individuality, and true Australian values. On top of net zero, the Coalition needs strong policies on slashing immigration, opposing woke cultural Marxism and protecting free speech. Can Ms Ley deliver?

The odds are stacked against her, but stranger things have happened.