"The essential ingredient of politics is timing," according to the former very successful Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

The dog-wagging Nationals got in first and forced the more numerous Liberal MPs of their coalition into the abandonment of policies to reduce carbon emissions in Australia to net zero by 2050. It was great timing in the short term for the Nationals, but electorally catastrophic for the Coalition in the medium and long term.

And most likely, excellent timing for Labor.

We know the Nats wagged the Liberal dog because the opposition spokesperson on energy and emissions, Dan Tehan, said publicly before the Nats' decision that he would need to take until March 2026 to complete his inquiry into emissions policy.

So, we now know that the Liberals were goaded by the

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