Former Nationals minister lashes party leader over net zero on his ...
Former Nationals minister Keith Pitt has announced he is leaving politics with a scathing review of his party leader for backing the Coalition’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050.
Pitt, a conservative Queensland MP who was resources minister in the Morrison government, said on Friday that he would step down from his safe Bundaberg-based seat of Hinkler at the next election after 11 years in Parliament.
Former minister Keith Pitt has announced he is departing politics.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
After thanking his supporters and family, Pitt concluded his statement with a quote attributed to the civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter,” the quote reads. “I am confident I have never been silent. It has been a privilege to serve.”
Pitt, who championed coal as resources minister, told The Australian newspaper the day before his departure that Nationals leader David Littleproud should “stand up” to Peter Dutton and the Liberals.
“And to do that, you’ve got to separate from your brothers and sisters in the Liberal Party because they have, on occasions, different views to us,” Pitt said. “In my view, political parties without purpose soon disappear.
“I am talking about the impact in the cost of committing to net zero emissions targets and the subsequent green policies that have to be paid for.
“And while there is literally zero impact on the temperature of the planet, it has huge impacts on the wallets of regional people.”
The Nationals committed to a policy of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 under the leadership of Barnaby Joyce. In his official statement, Pitt wished Dutton, who plans to hit net zero in part by building a fleet of nuclear power plants, well.
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Littleproud hit back in a statement, saying the Nationals had set the country’s agenda and protected regional Australia against Labor under his leadership.
He noted that Pitt had been in the party during this term of parliament when the Nationals had led the ‘No’ case against the Indigenous Voice to parliament and pushed the Coalition to adopt nuclear energy.
“The Nationals wish Keith all the best in his new endeavours,” Littleproud said.
Dutton said on Friday that Pitt was a friend and an “incredibly smart guy” who was frustrated to be kept on the Nationals backbench.
“He’s had a job offer in the private sector and he’s going to take that,” Dutton told Today.
Pitt was among the ministers kept in the dark about former prime minister Scott Morrison’s decision to have himself secretly sworn into their ministerial portfolios. Morrison assumed authority over resources when he disagreed with Pitt about a proposal to drill for gas off the NSW coast.
Energy and Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen said that Littleproud had too much influence over Coalition climate policy rather than too little.
“You’ve got a whole group of climate change deniers in there and they’re driving policy,” Bowen told ABC TV. “One thing you shouldn’t let the National Party near is climate change policy.”
The opposition is losing a raft of senior MPs at the next election, including Senator Simon Birmingham and Sydney MP Paul Fletcher. Dutton is expected to announce a reshuffle of his frontbench on the weekend.
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Joyce, the former Nationals leader, said that Pitt was right about the value of standing up to the Liberal Party for the junior Coalition partner.
“If I [the Nationals] are not getting something out of it, there’s no point,” Joyce said. But he defended Littleproud, who beat him in a vote after the last election to become party leader.
“I think David’s doing the best job he can,” Joyce told Sky. “I think David’s as going as hard as he can.”
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