Coalition backbencher Barnaby Joyce has poured new fuel on an old fire as the 48th parliament gets under way in Canberra.

Joyce, a former deputy prime minister and Nationals leader, has drafted a private member’s bill to “repeal net zero”, reigniting the opposition’s destructive climate wars.

In Canberra corridor spray on Wednesday, Joyce said many voters felt the process of achieving net zero had been “obfuscated”.

“People are furious. You get to understand the sort of fury that [they have] in regional areas. We have in meetings, people crying, we have in meetings, people feeling bullied. They believe the government is just running roughshod over them,” he said.

“They do not want us to say, ‘Well, what I’m going to do is have a committee about how you feel’. They’re saying ‘now you go down and do something about it’, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Joyce, who has the backing of another former Nationals leader in Michael McCormack for his bill, is a well-known sceptic of climate legislation.

“No one can dispute power prices are going through the roof,” he said on Wednesday.

“No one can dispute that the power grid is becoming unreliable.

“No one can dispute that you need a strong economic base if you want to defend our nation.”

He said Australia was in the minority in aiming for net-zero.

However, India has a target of net zero by 2070, China by 2060. The US had a 2050 target under Joe Biden, although climate action has been largely scrapped under President Donald Trump.

“Even if you believe every chapter, verse, what net zero was going to achieve, it’s not going to achieve it because the world’s not participating in it,” Joyce said.

“Why are we on this sort of singular crusade by ourselves that has no effect on the climate but is incredibly deleterious to the standard of living and the cost of living of the Australian people – it’s insane.”

Joyce denied the bill was really aimed at destabilising Nationals leader David Littleproud, after he and McCormack were dumped from the frontbench.

“I’m not pushing any barrow for leadership of the National party. People ask you questions, you give them straight answers, it’s not about that. It’s about net zero,” he said.

Joyce said he’d support a leadership bid by McCormack, which he hasn’t ruled out. But he acknowledged no imminent challenge.

On Wednesday, McCormack also professed support for Littleproud.

“David Littleproud is the leader … David, as he said this morning, will do what the party wants as the leader, and that is his obligation and duty. And I support David,” he told Sky News Australia later on Wednesday.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has refused to say whether a net-zero target will remain Coalition policy as a review continues following its May election defeat.

Liberals largely want to keep the net-zero emissions policy; they lost a swathe of inner-city seats amid concerns they weren’t taking climate change seriously enough.

Ash Ambihaipahar, the new member for Barton, gives her first speech in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. Photo: Mike Bowers

New parliament, new rules

With the pageantry of parliament’s opening day out of the way, senators and MPs began their work in earnest on Wednesday.

New rules have been implemented in a crackdown on disorderly behaviour, with members facing eviction from the chamber of up to three hours for bad conduct, up from the maximum one-hour penalty in the last parliament.

The changes could prove useful as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, backed by one of Labor’s largest majorities, prepares to face off for his first Question Time against Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.

With Labor holding a lion’s share of 94 seats in the lower chamber – compared to the Coalition’s 43 – the 48th parliament will be the first time its MPs sit on both sides of the aisle in the House of Representatives.

The government has wasted no time in kicking off its agenda, with Education Minister Jason Clare using the first hour of sitting on Wednesday to introduce priority legislation.

A proposal to slash university debt by 20 per cent for three million Australians was delivered in the house first thing after Labor campaigned heavily on the promise.

People with an average HECS debt of $27,600 will have $5520 wiped from their loans.

The Coalition is expected to support the move, which will wipe $16 billion off student debt, but is waiting to see the fine print.

Clare also introduced legislation that would strengthen safety in the childcare system. He promised to expedite that bill in response to shocking sexual abuse allegations against a Victorian childcare worker.

-with AAP