There's no other way of looking at it: Sussan Ley faces a diabolical situation with the debate over whether the Coalition should abandon the 2050 net zero emissions target.

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The issue is a microcosm of her wider problems. The Nationals, the minor party in the Coalition, are determined to run their own race on most things. The Liberals have become akin to two parties, split between those eyeing urban seats and younger voters, and right-wingers reflecting the party's conservative grassroots.

Nobody misses the contrast. The Albanese government is beset by a host of actual issues around the transition to a clean energy economy. The renewables rollout is not going as fast as desirable and is meeting with resistance in some communities. Energy costs are high. But such problems are not putting any pressure on Labor's unity.

At the same time, the opposition is fractured over an argument about a target that's a quarter of a century away, when who knows what the technological or political landscape will look like. For the opposition, the internal debate about net zero is about symbols and signals, rather than substance.

The net zero debate exploded within the opposition this week with Barnaby Joyce's private member's bill to scrap Australia's commitment to it. The timing, in parliament's first week, was extraordinarily inconvenient for Ley. But if not now, it would have erupted later.

On present indications, the Nationals appear likely to ditch the net zero commitment. David Littleproud, anxious to avoid the issue becoming a threat to his leadership, is reading the party room and positioning himself to be in the anticipated majority.

Asked on Thursday whether he supported net zero, Littleproud told the ABC, "Well, I have real concerns about it, to be candid. What net zero has become is about trying to achieve the impossible, rather than doing what's sensible." But, he insisted, "we're not climate........

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