Coalition MP Craig Kelly has backed Tony Abbott’s call for Australia to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The backbencher says the deal was originally prefaced as something that would apply to all. However, following America’s departure from the arrangement, circumstances have changed in a way that warrants our withdrawal.

“(That it would apply to all) was basically a precedent or a precondition of the agreement that we signed up to,” Kelly explains.

“That condition no longer applies. The Paris Agreement is not applicable to all. We’ve had the USA, the world’s largest economy, announcing they’re going to withdraw,” he explains.

“We’ve also had China’s commitment, it’s basically business as usual until 2030, the same with India. So at the very most, it’s only applicable to less than half the world’s economy. It’s certainly not applicable to all.”

Kelly says Australia needs to consider whether the benefits of the 26% emission reduction target are worth the detriment involved.

“All the Paris Agreement reduction will achieve is a 0.05 of a degree (temperature reduction) by the year 2100. But we have to think about what it’s going to do to other sectors of the economy.”

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