James Fenimore Cooper wrote The Last of the Mohicans in 1826. It was made into an incredible film starring the inestimable Daniel Day Lewis in 1992. It tells the story of the last stand of a fictional character, the last of his tribe, against insurmountable odds.

If advocates for new coal-fired power stations were Mohicans, then North Queensland Nationals senator Matt Canavan would be the last of the Mohicans. While I don’t agree with Canavan’s opposition to the move to net zero emissions by 2050, nor his advocacy for new coal-fired power stations, I’ve got to hand it to him – he never gives up!

Credit: Illustration: Matt Davidson

But his lone stand brings into stark relief an achievement for which Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has attracted little praise – the acceptance by both the Liberal and National parties that indeed the climate is changing, that the human race and its emissions have contributed to this change, and something needs to be done about it.

While this might sound rather obvious, let me tell you, from the end of the Howard government in 2007 (remember, prime minister John Howard had set in train the bones of an emissions trading scheme) to the announcement by the Coalition party room that it would embrace nuclear power in early 2024, a number of Liberal Party leaders fell into the ravine brought about by the elements of the Liberal and National party rooms who would not countenance climate change mitigation policies.

This ravine........

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