Coalition Leader Angus Taylor Vows to Scrap Net Zero Law, Safeguard Mechanism and Four Offshore Wind Zones

Australia's Coalition opposition announced Wednesday, September 23, 2026, that it would repeal a wide swath of the country's climate and energy laws within 30 days of winning the next federal election, according to a policy rollout led by opposition leader Angus Taylor and shadow energy minister Dan Tehan.

The eight-point plan, detailed at an energy forum in Sydney and reported by The Guardian and CityNews Queanbeyan, would strip out the legislated net zero by 2050 target under the Climate Change Act, scrap the safeguard mechanism's penalty regime for big industrial emitters, lift the existing ban on nuclear power, and cancel vehicle emissions standards.

It would also revoke four of the six offshore wind zones currently slated for completion in the late 2030s: the Hunter, Illawarra, Southern Ocean and Bunbury zones, per The Guardian and NewsBeep. A new "renewable energy code of conduct" would apply to developers, and both state energy funding and the Australian Energy Regulator's mandate would be redirected toward affordability and reliability rather than emissions targets.

Taylor's stated rationale is blunt: "Australia has done its bit," he told reporters, arguing that market forces and consumer choice, not legislated mandates, should drive future emissions cuts. Tehan pointed to the Tomago Aluminium case as evidence the current system is contradictory. The safeguard mechanism, introduced by a Coalition government in 2016 and tightened by Labor in 2022, charges big emitters $250 per tonne of carbon over a 100,000-tonne annual cap. Tehan noted the federal and NSW governments last month committed $2.5 billion to keep Tomago running past 2028, a bailout he says exists only because the same policy pushed the smelter's energy costs up in the first place. "It just doesn't make sense: you tax them on one hand and you're having to bail them out to the tune of two billion on another," Tehan told The Nightly.

Under the Coalition's plan, big emitters would face no mandatory penalty at all. Emission cuts would become voluntary, with market participants able to "can" join if they choose, Tehan said. That detail, reported by The Nightly, is a substantive divergence from how several other outlets framed the story. The Guardian, NewsBeep and Head Topics led with the offshore wind and net zero repeal, giving comparatively little space to the fact that industrial polluters would no longer face any carbon penalty under the new bill.

Tehan also cited the war-related disruption around the Strait of Hormuz and broader geopolitical instability as reasons Australians want a more "sovereign" and self-reliant energy posture, separating energy policy from climate targets, with a standalone emissions reduction policy promised later this year.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen called the plan a "chainsaw to the economy and household budgets" that would make Australia "poorer, weaker and less secure from global shocks," arguing it strips households of the choice to cut power bills with batteries and cheaper-to-run vehicles. Treasurer Jim Chalmers went further, branding it a "One Nation policy with a Liberal Party sticker on it" and Tehan's "latest brain fade."

Kooyong independent MP Monique Ryan called it "dumb, dangerous, and desperate climate denial," and suggested the plan was designed to court One Nation voters, a claim the Coalition has not addressed directly. Acting Greens leader Mehreen Faruqi criticized the move as taking the country backwards. Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie called the policy "pure ideology" that would "let climate change rip," while separately describing it, per CityNews Queanbeyan, as a "brain fart." Australian Conservation Foundation advocacy head Gavan McFadzean argued renewables paired with storage are already the cheapest and most reliable option, calling the rollback "a breathtaking act of economic self-harm."

Even the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a business lobby not aligned with the climate movement, supports keeping the safeguard mechanism as is, per The Nightly. The Coalition's full repeal goes further than mainstream industry's own stated position, which is to leave the mechanism in place without expanding it to smaller facilities.

The announcement follows the Coalition's decision last November to formally abandon its net zero commitment after internal fighting that led to Sussan Ley's ouster as leader and Taylor's rise to the top job in February 2026, according to CityNews Queanbeyan. Nationals leader David Littleproud, an ally of Taylor's on energy policy, opposes most new renewable investment.

Labor's existing target is to have renewables supply just over 80 percent of the national grid within four years, a plan that requires several coal plants to close. Australia is also set to lead negotiations at COP31, the UN's annual climate conference, scheduled to be held in Turkey later in 2026, a commitment the Coalition's plan does not directly address.

None of this is law yet. The measures depend entirely on the Coalition winning the next federal election and introducing the bill within its promised 30-day window, a bill that has not yet been drafted or introduced to parliament as of September 23, 2026.