Wodonga-based Senator Bridget McKenzie says too many MPs are worried about "being cool, rather than the consequences of their actions" when it comes to considering net-zero carbon emissions.
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"It is the worst kind of vacuousness over values," Senator McKenzie told The Australian Financial Review.
Federal Liberal MPs say the tide is turning against their Nationals colleagues opposed to Scott Morrison's plan for a new roadmap to reduce emissions.
Tensions have been high in government ranks over an internal push to commit Australia to net-zero emissions by 2050, with the Nationals arguing it would hurt people in regional and rural areas.
However, moderate Liberals are backing the plan and North Sydney MP Trent Zimmerman says the climate measures will benefit the regions.
"Right now, (the Nationals) are focused on what the economic transition would be, but the tide is shifting," he told ABC radio yesterday. "It will be a driver of new jobs and industries and this is the silver lining of the climate change cloud."
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Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said regional areas would be among the hardest hit locations if an emissions target was not created, due to more frequent natural disasters.
"Action on climate change is good for jobs and the economy and the environment. What people in regional areas have to fear is inaction on climate change," he said.
The Nationals are next due to meet as a party room when Parliament resumes in mid-October.
Vocal members of the Nationals have hit out at any potential net-zero plan, with Queensland senator Matt Canavan indicating there would be no way he would support any measure.
Senator McKenzie said it was easy for "urban Liberals" like Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to push for the target because the impact on their "affluent constituents" would be minimal.
"Our people, by contrast, are generally living in the electorates with the lowest per capita incomes, while the industries that underpin our regional economies are emission-intensive," she wrote in an opinion piece.
Last Friday, Mr Frydenberg sought to generate momentum with a speech in which he warned of the financial consequences if Australia did not start its economic transition.
Senator McKenzie says the Nationals have every right to be wary.
"It is easy for the member for Kooyong (Mr Frydenberg) or the member for Wentworth (Dave Sharma) to publicly embrace net zero before the government has a position, because there would be next to zero real impact on the way of life of their affluent constituents," she says.
"If the Treasurer is right, and we are in the midst of an epochalinternational policy shift, this is even more reason for us to seek to protect our people who will be disproportionately affected by policies designed to phase out or curtail existing industries."
