Why does Jane Hume, who previously went along with whatever her party leader said and defended it, despite the Liberals priding themselves on being able to cross the floor and speak in support of their own convictions rather than the party position, now think that the Coalition should embrace net zero and the energy transition?

Well, there’s a few reasons. The most obvious is an electoral imperative.

For election after election, the voters have told us that they want to see a low-emissions future.

So I think that that ship really has sailed. When we build our policy platform, it’s going to be fundamental that Liberals don’t just work for the voters that put us here now, but for the 33 seats that we need to win in order to form government. They have made it very clear that they want to see a low-emissions future. But the other is economic.

This is really important. We are a capital-dependent nation. We need capital inflows from overseas. We know that overseas financiers require policy certainty. That policy certainty can come from a commitment to a net zero future. Net zero is 25 years away. I have absolutely no doubt that the technology will be there to be able to deliver a zero-emissions future.

This is something that we should be embracing. We know that, when other countries have uncertain policy settings – like we’ve seen in the US – that capital moves. Over $1 billion was invested from a Dutch pension fund into Octopus Investments, an oasis fund, an Australian renewable energy fund, weeks ago, in response largely to the uncertain policy settings occurring in the US right now. This is a great opportunity for us to attract private-sector capital so that we can start lifting the subsidies that taxpayers are paying for.