Response to Cameron Caldwell's 14 Nov 2025 email about Net Zero

Cameron Caldwell (LNP, member for the federal seat of Fadden in the northern Gold Coast) sent out a bulk email on 14 Nov 2025, just after the Liberal Party decided to follow the National's lead and dump the Net-Zero target.

As the LNP disintegrates over these constant energy flip-flops, we felt it was important to address some of the points made in the bulk email.

Below is the email and our response to the points made. We reached out to Cameron Caldwell for his comment on this response, but we didn't receive a reply.

Dear Constituent,

This is an important email about you, your family and your future.

The Liberal Party has decided to dump the Net Zero target.

We have announced a new direction in energy and emissions policy, placing affordable energy and the cost of living at the centre of Australia’s economic future.

This is another "new direction" in energy policy from the LNP, causing investor uncertainty, rising costs and rising emissions. The policies so far:

It's difficult to take any LNP energy policy position seriously, given the continuous internal wrangling over the issue. Political oblivion is the outcome that we already see playing out.

Labor is being dishonest. Its policies are not working because prices are going up without emissions coming down.

Electricity prices are complex because of many factors, including the privatisation of energy assets in the 1990s and the highly volatile National Energy Market.

In fact, household electricity prices have fallen in Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia. The national average electricity cost per kWh was $0.41 in December 2023, but dropped to $0.38 in June 2024; however, much of this drop was due to subsidies. [Source]

Regarding CO2 emissions, they have appeared to plateau, but emissions per capita are significantly lower than their peak in 2006. [Source]

Australian manufacturing has gone backwards.

Agreed, it has, and both LNP and ALP bear responsibility for this.

Regional communities have seen good land carved up for large-scale wind and solar projects.

Regional communities have seen good land destroyed for coal and gas mines, and seen the destruction of water supplies due to fracking. The Hunter Valley used to be all farms, now it is a network of coal mines.

Under Labor, power bills are up nearly 40 per cent...

This is not true in general. Subsidies have meant Queenslanders are actually, on average, in credit.

... household budgets are stretched to the limit....

Very true, but the conditions for high inflation were in place due to the stimulatory nature of the response to COVID. Inflation has been high worldwide, not because of ALP policies. In fact, inflation has shrunk considerably since they came to power.

... and industry and small businesses are collapsing under the weight of rising costs.

We agree. Once again, both parties bear responsibility for the conditions that led to this situation.

Labor’s energy policy is all pain and no gain.

A sweeping statement that does not reflect the situation. They have tried to reduce energy costs, but we agree they have not done enough.

Australians deserve an energy policy that puts them first.

We agree with you there, Malcolm. It's a shame that the various LNP policies over the decades have been the result of ideological backroom deals, heavily influenced by the fossil fuel industry. The situation under the ALP is not a big improvement.

The current situation where we give away large amounts of our gas to other countries without collecting appropriate taxes or PRRT is untenable. Both the LNP and ALP have allowed this situation to develop, and it is one of the first things that should be addressed to bring down energy prices. We need to keep enough gas in Australia to meet our domestic needs until such time as we have transitioned to renewables.

We will use all our energy strengths to deliver abundant and affordable energy to power Australia

We all want that.

1. By lifting the prohibition on zero-emission nuclear energy.

This approach was rejected by the people at the 2025 election. Nuclear energy would be the most expensive way to produce power, would not be online for many years, and the build costs would be provided by the taxpayer. The issue of where to store the waste was never settled. We suspect you wouldn't want a nuclear waste dump in Coomera.

2. By using all our natural resources to pursue energy abundance, including by adding uranium to the critical minerals list.

Our cheapest natural resource is the sun, and to a lesser extent wind and hydro. Uranium-based energy is not the future we, your constituents, want.

We should do our fair share, so under our plan emissions will be reduced:

We don't understand this fear the LNP has of being a leader in this space. We have abundant renewable energy resources and we could show the world how to transition with the least amount of pain.

1. On average year on year, for every five-year period of Australia’s Nationally Determined Contribution.

This is the supreme cop-out policy. Waiting for everyone else to move has been a losing idea since the Paris Agreement. This is not acceptable.

2. Doing our fair share considering the real performance of comparable countries.

We have a responsibility to do more than our "fair share" of reducing emissions, since we've exported so much over the years.

3. As fast and as far as technology allows, without imposing mandated costs on families or industry

Currently, families and industry are already paying higher prices due to the inadequate worldwide response to climate change, including:

  1. Higher cleanup costs after natural disasters
  2. Higher insurance costs
  3. An increasing number of places have become uninsurable
  4. Homelessness due to climate disasters

We can move as fast as our leaders move us - it's a copout to say we'll go as slow as we can.

We will support a balanced energy mix, including renewables in the right place, and most importantly, with communities restored to the centre of decision.

That balanced mix should be of clean sources only - not a mix of fossil fuels and expensive nuclear energy with all its waste storage problems.

Australia has already reduced emissions by 28 per cent on 2005 levels, compared with an average 16 per cent reduction across comparable countries.

Yes, and it's an inadequate figure. We have to do more.

Under Labor, the pursuit of an unachievable Net Zero will mean bigger bills and rolling blackouts.

We'd rather have larger bills now in order to build a sustainable and clean energy infrastructure, rather than facing much larger bills down the track for repairs and insurance.

Its time for Chris Bowen’s energy experiment to end and to put Australia first

This is hardly "Chris Bowen's energy experiment". You either accept what climate experts have been saying for years and reduce emissions as quickly as you can, or you don't.

The Australian people have seen through the LNP's messy approach to energy and climate, and your own party is falling apart because of it.

Labor's solutions aren't perfect, aren't adequate and are too slow, but at least they are moving in the right direction. The LNP's mess is of its own making, and electoral oblivion is the likely outcome.

Posted by Murray. Last modified: 14 Dec 2025.

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