Article by llen Ransley, courtesy of the Courier Mail.
24.10.2025
Australia could build eight hospitals or 400 new aged-care homes a month with the money needed to achieve Australia’s 2030 targets.
The analysis, based on Princeton University research, found the capital cost of reaching those climate targets was between $17.8bn and $22.3bn a month.
The figures are being pushed by LNP federal Member for Groom Garth Hamilton in an attempt to bring the net zero conversation “out of the bush and into the cities” — at a time when the Coalition is once again in internal tumult over climate policy.
Already Barnaby Joyce has flagged quitting the Nationals, while fellow Queenslander Llew O’Brien says he’s also willing to leave the party unless net zero is dumped.
While the Nationals are expected to walk away from the policy before Christmas, the Liberals are weighing up a different approach to net zero that goes beyond 2050 or includes more caveats.
Mr Hamilton, a Liberal publicly opposed to net zero, says he wants to highlight the policy doesn’t make economic sense.
“Particularly when it comes to hospitals, when we’ve got ramping, overcrowding and facilities are out of date … We need to understand what the full cost of net zero is when compared against public services,” he said.
“I want to bring the party together.”
His analysis is based on a modelling from Net Zero Australia – a study done by the University of Melbourne, the University of Queensland, and Princeton University – which found between $1.2 to 1.5 trillion of capital commitments was required by 2030.