<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>One-time Nationals leader </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/barnaby-joyce" rel="" target="_blank" title="Barnaby Joyce"><span>Barnaby Joyce</span></a><span> has claimed Peter Dutton 'lost his mind' over his views on nuclear.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Joyce refused to say in an ABC interview that nuclear power would help bring down energy bills in the run-up to the last election.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"To be quite frank, the previous leader of the Coalition Peter Dutton said, 'I want to sack you, if you don't believe in net zero you've got to go'," the Nationals MP told media in Canberra.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/ozzy-osbourne-death-black-sabbath-lead-singer-and-heavy-metal-pioneer-dies-aged-76/90b1cd81-6cc1-49a5-8404-95749e9c7634" target="_blank"><strong><span>Ozzy Osbourne dead at 76, just weeks after final concert</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I said, 'Well sack me' and he said, 'I can't sack you, you are too much of a problem'." </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Joyce was asked by ABC radio's Patricia Karvelas in December if he could promise power prices would be more affordable </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/sussan-ley-reflects-on-liberal-party-election-defeat-press-club-address/919a8772-0753-410a-8246-d004fd85849b" rel="" target="_blank" title="if the Coalition won the election."><span>if the Coalition won the election.</span></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"That is asking for a hypothetical question, which I could answer for you, but I would not be telling the truth, because I don't have the facts before me," he responded at the time.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/barnaby-joyce-says-peter-dutton-asked-him-to-quit-politics-before-last-election-over-nuclear-policy/dd3e15f5-2b94-43ba-81ac-52f10d55aea8" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Joyce today reaffirmed his view that power prices, particularly in regional areas, had become untenable.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"No one can dispute power prices are going through the roof, no one can dispute that the power grid is become unreliable," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We are pushing Australians into destitution we have no right to do that."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/father-of-three-jailed-after-spraying-chilli-substance-in-bunnings-which-left-11-people-in-hospital/e1ee00ef-21e8-4e10-832e-caae4f5fc3ee" target="_blank"><strong><span>Horror Bunnings 'prank' leaves 11 people in hospital</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Joyce and fellow Nationals MP Michael McCormack today claimed they discovered they'd been axed from the shadow ministry and relegated to the backbench in a post-election reshuffle after being asked about it by reporters.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The former party rivals are now united in support over Joyce's private member pill to repeal net zero.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>McCormack has joined Joyce's campaign against the Coalition-backed policy of net zero by 2050, which Joyce has described as a "lunatic crusade".</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/climate-change-net-zero-emissions-2050-scott-morrison-explainer/e59d4bc6-0885-41b7-8454-8669b5d90759" rel="" target="_blank" title="The Morrison government said in 2021 it had agreed to aim for net zero emissions by 2050"><span>The Morrison government said in 2021 it had agreed to aim for net zero emissions by 2050</span></a><span>, which would mean removing as much greenhouse gas from the atmosphere as what's emitted, so the net amount added is zero.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"We are trying to achieve net zero something that neither Russia, China, United States, Brazil etc are part of. You are in the minority group here," Joyce added.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Nationals leader David Littleproud today said net zero was an impossible task and the 2050 goal was "tearing apart" regional communities.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/children-drugged-in-human-trafficking-sex-ring-uncovered-in-underground-bunker-officials-say/f35af6b7-9f4d-4d1d-b721-02e42f2f6f77" target="_blank"><strong><span>Child victims of human trafficking sex ring found in bunker</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"I think net zero unfortunately has become something about trying to achieve the impossible rather than actually doing what's sensible, and we're bearing the burden of that," Littleproud told reporters today.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Coalition and Nationals are reviewing their climate and energy policies following May's stunning election defeat.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The last two elections we went forward with a policy supporting net zero and we have been handed our political derriere on a plate, haven't we," Joyce added.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" target="_blank"><strong><em><span>DOWNLOAD THE 9NEWS APP</span></em></strong></a><strong><em><span>: Stay across all the latest in breaking news, sport, politics and the weather via our news app and get notifications sent straight to your smartphone. 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