Littleproud doubles down on nuclear power, explains Coalition split to party faithful
Nationals leader David Littleproud said he still supported nuclear power for Australia, as the LNP doubled down on opposition to “reckless” renewable energy at its annual convention in Queensland on Saturday.
Littleproud and Liberal deputy Ted O’Brien spoke to hordes of party faithful and representatives at the glitzy Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in South Bank from about 10.30am.
O’Brien was scathing of the ongoing Labor-led Productivity Commission summit in Canberra, and fired off his own critique of government energy policy.
David Littleproud speaks at the LNP annual conference in Brisbane on Saturday. Credit: William Davis
Littleproud offered a behind-the-scenes explanation for the brief Coalition split earlier this year, and said he and Peter Dutton felt they had let members down at the landslide May poll.
“I owe you an explanation today about ensuing events after the election,” the Nationals leader told several hundred LNP members seated on rows of stackable steel chairs.
“Make no mistake, there’s plenty of people that think they know what happened … in terms of the negotiations that Sussan Ley and I had.
“It was only the two of us and it was held in a very professional manner.
“It was about making sure that we could look [voters] in the eye … and say that in our moment we stood for them, and we made sure that we didn’t trade away their futures because of political expedience.”
Littleproud reiterated the disagreement centred on demands including a pro-nuclear energy policy, creation of a $20 billion Future Fund for regional infrastructure and introduction of powers to break up major supermarkets.
“It was a challenging time. It was done with no malice, no malice whatsoever,” he added.
The 2025 event was held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in South Bank. Credit: William Davis
Premier David Crisafulli, multiple state ministers and Brisbane City Council deputy mayor Fiona Cunningham were among those in attendance at the yellow and blue-clad event.
The member for Maranoa confirmed he still thought nuclear energy – which polling suggested was unpopular across the country – was the best option for Australia.
“I believe passionately in it,” he said.
“I believe we need base-load power, but I just ask you to understand that this reckless race that we are going down, an all-renewables path, is destroying regional Australia.
“Regional Australia is more than just a place littered with transmission lines, solar panels and wind turbines … It’s your food security that’s been ripped up.”
Littleproud added the National Party was taking lessons from the loss, despite holding onto all its seats.
“The election was devastating,” he said.
“Let me make it clear, we’ve got to accept [voters] couldn’t trust us to put a vote next to [our name] but they held their nose and voted for Anthony Albanese.
“It’s not because they’re in love with him, it’s because we didn’t do a good enough job in selling that message. So there is not the challenge, but the opportunity.”
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre Credit: William Davis
O’Brien accused the government’s Economic Reform Roundtable of conspiring to control the lives of all Australians.
“You should have seen what was on display: the unity between big government, big unions and big super funds,” he said.
“They are going to masterplan how every ordinary Australian lives their lives in the future.
“If you ever have any doubt about being a Liberal National, spend three days locked up … in a socialist summit.”
The deputy Liberal leader then took his own stab at government energy policy, but did not mention the net-zero commitments that divided his party in recent weeks.
“They’re trying to solve the wrong problem,” he said.
“The problem to solve is not how do we race to 82 per cent renewables in the grid by 2030, that’s not the problem to solve.
“The problem to solve is how do we get the cheapest electricity that we can.”
The LNP began the opening day of it convention with an overwhelming vote to call on the federal Coalition to drop its support for net zero energy and climate policy.
The convention will continue on Sunday.
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