Party Abandoned By People Under 50 Set To Abandon Their Only Policy Popular With People Under 50

ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact

Senior Coalition figures are again threatening to walk from the frontbench unless Opposition Leader Sussan Ley ditches the party’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, the one policy still capable of being explained at a Year 10 geography class without eliciting laughter.

The move comes after the 2025 election saw the Liberals and Nationals effectively written out of the electoral maps for anyone under 50, with whole swathes of cities and suburbs turning red or teal.

In outer metro areas, the mortgage belt once considered Coalition bread and butter, voters fled in droves after a campaign promising seven nuclear power stations and very little else. Western Sydney, Perth’s eastern suburbs and the Gold Coast corridor all delivered swings that wiped out the last of the moderate faction, leaving behind a parliamentary party made up largely of generational ex-cattlemen, soft-handed mining lobbyists and whoever happened to wander into the Parkes electorate preselection meeting.

“The young have deserted us, the cities have deserted us, the suburbs have deserted us and now we’re making a stand against the climate,” said one Coalition strategist.

“At this rate we’ll have the grey nomads and a couple of blokes from Kalgoorlie and that should be enough to form government in about 2075.”

Political historians note that the Coalition is now trapped in a vicious cycle. Every loss of ground to Labor and the independents makes the party more reliant on the Nationals and the hard right, which in turn drives it further away from the younger, urban voters it desperately needs.

“The irony is, Labor doesn’t even need to do well anymore,” explained one staffer.

“As long as they don’t absolutely shit the bed, we’re chronically unelectable. And even then, voters might still prefer His Majesty King Charles II over us.”

For now, the Opposition will review its climate policy, while younger Australians continue to grow increasing apathetic toward them.

More to come.