Federal election 2025 LIVE updates: ASX lifts 5.9 per cent after Trump pauses most tariffs, but escalates trade war with China; Dutton ignores question on embattled candidate

Opposition Finance spokeswoman Jane Hume has just committed a future Coalition government to remaining in the Paris climate change deal, contradicting the party’s climate spokesman, Ted O’Brien.

Earlier on Thursday, during a debate with Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen, O’Brien hedged his bets about Australia sticking with the emissions’ reduction deal if the opposition formed government.

Asked if Australia would leave the Paris Agreement, as the United States has done under President Donald Trump, O’Brien said: “I can commit that we will always act in the national interest, and we will be up front with the Australian people.”

But in an interview on the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing program Hume had a very different message when asked about O’Brien’s comments and whether a Coalition government would remain signed up to the Paris deal.

“Yes. There is no doubt about that, but on Labor’s current trajectory the idea of cutting 43 per cent is an absolute fantasy and I think that’s exactly what it was Ted was alluding to,” she said.

“Labor’s policies are not working. They promised $275 off your energy bills, they failed to deliver it and they have no solutions.”

“That’s why the Coalition government has said we will inject more gas into the system in the short term and deliver in the longer term when those coal-fired power stations retire.”

Following the comment from Hume, O’Brien’s spokesman contacted this masthead to clarify the Coalition’s position.

“To be clear, we are committed to the Paris Agreement, including net zero by 2050,” O’Brien said.

“But under Labor’s trajectory, Australia’s chances of hitting the 43 per cent target by 2030 is pure fantasy. Unlike Labor, we’ll be upfront with Australians about how we assess these factors and how they shape our targets.”