Good job Greg, ya grub
When Greg Hunt moved on from the Environment portfolio, he smugly told us his job was done. He had successfully destroyed carbon pricing and replaced it with his Direct Action Plan which he assured us has achieved greater emission reductions for a fraction of the price.
What a load of bullshit.
In May, the government held its third auction for the Emission Reduction Fund with almost all of the 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide savings (47 million tonnes) coming from protecting and restoring plants and trees.
In fact, of the $1.7 billion spent to date (67% of the total ERF funding), $1.2 billion has been spent on tree projects.
The government also aims, at a cost of A$50 million, to replace 20 million trees by 2020 to redress some of the damage from past land clearing.
Yet just one year of increased land clearing in Queensland has already removed many more trees than will be painstakingly planted during the entire program.
The carbon released from Queensland’s land clearing in 2012-2014 alone is estimated at 63 million tonnes.
There are also grave concerns about land clearing in NSW.
In May, the Baird government released a draft package of biodiversity and land management reforms designed to “get rid of red tape that is tying up farmers’ productivity.”
Chair of NSW Farmers, Mitchell Clapham, said current legislation is “enormously damaging” for farmers and welcomed reform which would give farmers increased land clearing and pest control powers.
“We have enormous tracks of land in the north-west of the state that are now covered in invasive native scrub and, because of the current acts and legislation, cannot be managed,” he said.
But an explosive report also issued in May shows that regulations have offered little impediment, with farmers clearing land at six times the rate approved by the government.
The findings are based on satellite data, which picked up the clearing of 81,000 hectares of land in the state from 2007-2011.
By comparison, the Office of Environment and Heritage approved just 12,480 hectares for clearing over that period, or about 15.6 per cent of the total land cleared.
Unexplained clearing has continued and even accelerated.
NSW Environment Minister Mark Speakman also revealed plans to pay landholders $240 million over five years – and $70 million each year after that – to encourage private land conservation as part of the new laws.
The scheme would encourage farmers to bid voluntarily for funds to conserve key wildlife habitat on their land.
Which all seems a very wasteful approach – relax environmental laws and then pay farmers to not take advantage of them by not clearing land they may well have had no intention of clearing anyway.
Wilderness Society national director Lyndon Schneiders said at current rates it would take just two years to wipe out the gains from the total $1.2 billion spent under the three emissions reduction fund auctions on tree projects.
“The Turnbull government’s climate policy is completely illogical,” Mr Schneiders said.
“It has done nothing as Queensland and now NSW have gutted nature laws and allowed millions of trees to be ripped up and burnt, and then spends $1.2 billion of taxpayers money to keep trees in the ground and plant new ones.
“It would be easier and far cheaper to just reduce tree clearing.”
As reported in Reputex,
“Everyone involved in this charade is keeping mum – or their hands firmly on the wads of cash now in their wallets – about what they really think. They have been dicked around so much by the coming and going of the CPRS and the carbon price, that they feel they deserve something, and wads of cash from a government auction is fair game.
If a government is determined to force money into their pockets for doing something that their clients may well have done anyway (growing trees, not clearing other vegetation, continuing landfill gas operations), then who are they to argue.”
All up across the three auctions under the emissions reduction fund, $1.7 billion has been spent to buy 143 million tonnes of emissions savings from 348 projects at an average price of $12.10 per tonne.
The current price in the EU, to which it was suggested we align when the carbon price was floated, is about 5 Euros (roughly $7.35) so Hunt’s outlandish claims of buying abatement for a fraction of the price, ignoring the fact that it is the taxpayer rather than the polluter paying for it, are demonstrably false.
At Senate estimates hearings in May, the Clean Energy Regulator’s chief executive Chloe Munro said that about 45 per cent of the 143 million tonnes of CO₂ abatement (64 million tonnes) would be delivered by 2020 – about the same amount of carbon that Queenland’s land clearing released in 2012-14.
Australia emitted 549.3 mega-tonnes (Mt) of carbon dioxide in 2014-15. To truly meet our objective of 5% reduction on 2000 emission levels, we would have to reduce our output in 2020 to 472.2 Mt but the government, through fancy accounting, is claiming 530 Mt is the aim.
Considering our emissions increased by 1.3% in 2014-15, they are going to need every bit of that creative bookwork.
Speaking of which, you may be wondering why our commitment to reduce emissions by 26-28% by 2030 is based on the year 2005 rather than 2000 (or 1990 as many countries do). As the following table shows, the base year makes a big difference to the percentage abatement you can claim for the same reduction.
| Year | Annual emissions(million tonnes) | Target (million tonnes) | Reduction (million tonnes) | Target (per cent) |
| 2005 | 532 | 393.68 | 138.32 | 26 per cent |
| 2000 | 497 | 393.68 | 103.32 | 20.79 per cent |
| 1990 | 428 | 393.68 | 34.32 | 8.02 per cent |
Other countries have made far greater commitments for 2030 eg based on 1990, Switzerland will reduce emissions by 50%, Norway and the EU by 40%. Even the US is committing to at least double our paltry 8%.
What Hunt has actually done is cost the nation billions in lost revenue, increased our emissions intensity, put the reef at risk, and saddled our children with the exponentially increasing cost of dealing with his cowardice and deceit.
Good job Greg, ya grub.
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Return to home pageHonestly, the deception and duplicity of the Liberals is just downright depressing.
Greg was voted the ‘The World’s Best Minister’.
What a man! (He believes it.) Shakes head.
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/greg-hunt-wins-worlds-best-minister-award-in-dubai-70184
Alarmingly, the data show that clearing in catchments that drain onto the Great Barrier Reef increased dramatically, and constituted 35% of total clearing across Queensland in 2013-14. The loss of native vegetation cover in such regions is one of the major drivers of the deteriorating water quality in the reef’s lagoon, which threatens seagrass, coral reefs, and other marine ecosystems.
Native vegetation removal from catchments that flow into the Great Barrier Reef liberates topsoil and contaminants, reducing water quality and threatening the health and resilience of the Great Barrier Reef. Governments have already spent hundreds of millions of dollars on this problem, with estimates of the full cost of restoring water quality as high as AUD$10 billion.
Yup, what a man!
This is the man who also won a prize for a final-year thesis he co-authored, titled A Tax to Make the Polluter Pay.
Now we pay, and the polluters become the paid. How innovative and agile is that? There’s never been a better time to be a polluter .
Lest we forget.
Since the Newman LNP govt laws were put into place in 2012 we have lost 1.5 million hectares in trees from Queensland, cut and sold by some dickhead farmers, and simply burnt by others. We have lost our chief weapon in fighting climate change, no wonder combined with the federal LNPs ‘direct action’ plan our emissions are continuing to skyrocket in a northerly direction. Some people are just too blind to see.
Greg is now the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science. He was given the ‘science’ gig because of his track record in protecting the walri in the southern oceans which were being threatened by Gillard’s Carbon Tax. LOL.
How does he sleep at night? Perhaps he reads Wiki – but only in part and geography is not his strong suit.
And he promptly went about trying to re-employ some of the scientists he sacked under his other portfolio. This government gives me a headache. What one hand does, the other undoes.
That’s what ‘magicians’ always do. The quickness of the ‘hand’ deceives’ the ‘eye’. But maybe not. perhaps we should ask a Walrus? One of which may be lost in the Southern Ocean.
Conjurers always distract attention away from what the hands are really doing. Marriage plebiscite, Sam Dastyari, Safe Schools, convicted jihadi terrorist kept behind a pool fence…..
I have always hated magicians
I used to think, “why do they lie to us?” Before long, I thought, “How can they lie straight in bed?” Now I just get angry. I think, “How bloody dare they lie to us?” So every day I do something towards showing them up as liars, educating a lemming or two about the truth about this government. Showing up their hypocrisy to them and to others. I loathe and detest every single one of them.
Greg’s been visiting Blue ScopeSteel’
That’s a weakness that Shorten has – always trying to line the pockets of the big banks. One wonders how he will vote if a RC into the banks is on the table?
And remember it’s always Labor’s fault
http://www.greghunt.com.au/Home/LatestNews/tabid/133/ID/4021/Doorstop-BlueScope-Steel-Wollongong.aspx .
What angers me most is the lies. Not just one, and not just a small one, but dozens each day, hundreds each week, a continuous stream of bullshit that in years past would not have been tolerated. Yet the public seem completely oblivious and the media do nothing whatsoever to call them out.
The media have stopped being journalists – all they do is parrot the pollies and quote a few twitter feeds. They know their jobs are dying but there’s no way they are going to rock the boat.
And the public are so ignorant and apathetic, the pollies now believe they can get away with anything, and the truth is – they can. Because nobody, aside from a handful of us here, seem to give a flying fluck!
Is it okay to email this article to Greg and challenge him to respond?
My word. You don’t like this lying little rodent? Another lying little rodent was in charge when Australia negotiated the Kyoto protocol.
Alan Tate wrote a diary for the Kyoto Protocol negotiations back in 1997.
Of note, were his diary entries for the concluding days.
“In the early hours of the morning of DAY 11, Australia scored a coup. After warning for months that his government would walk away from a Kyoto agreement, Prime Minister Howard received one of his biggest diplomatic gifts. The conference voted to accept Australia’s demands that emissions from land clearance could be included in its greenhouse gas emission measurements. Significant amounts of gases are emitted during the clearing of land, particularly in Queensland and western NSW. Australia now has a relatively inexpensive and easy way of cutting its total emissions by reducing land clearing and meeting any target which comes from a Kyoto agreement.”
A subsequent post;
“Australia’s Environment Minister Senator Robert Hill could not disguise his delight when he emerged from the conference saying the outcome was a win for the environment and one which Australia could surely belong to. Prime Minister Howard later confirmed that Australia would belong to the agreement. The government said this could be achieved without any job losses.
World environment groups were critical of some aspects of the global agreement and scathing about Australia’s role.”
http://www.abc.net.au/science/earth/climate/diary.htm
From memory, the lying little rodent never signed the Kyoto protocol. He did, however, make sure Australia’s commitment would be at the very low end of the scale. When the bar is set so low, it is hard to fail.
http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwijmIqG6anPAhUMJZQKHfmZBQ4QFgggMAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftheconversation.com%2Faustralia-trounced-kyoto-climate-target-new-report-reveals-25744&usg=AFQjCNEn6_LZkLhyv2WKKRU1rVVO60XC-g
As Matters Not posited, “This is the man who also won a prize for a final-year thesis he co-authored, titled A Tax to Make the Polluter Pay.”
These are not magicians. They are merely lying little rodents. Thank you, Ms Lee. Take care
Oh. that puckered up little face, trying to look concerned, forehead carefully scrunched up in attempt to appear wise and caring, just another poorly performing Liberal, nothing to see here, ” gebacken lucht’, Dutch for “baked air”, a suitable name for Environment Minister, who has achieved nothing…
Anomander, the lies no longer trouble me. The other part of your post nails it. They are no longer accountable for their lies.
The ultimate ministerial responsibility for a misdemeanour, in my memory, was Paddington Bear.
“In 1984, when Customs officials searched a suitcase belonging to the wife of Hawke Government Cabinet Minister, Mick Young, they found a Paddington bear. Then, I’m sure to their absolute horror, they discovered that the minister hadn’t declared it, therefore dodging who knows how much in duty.
Young had to resign until he was judicially cleared.”
It seems entirely incongruous that one lying little rodent introduced new ministerial obligations.
“John Howard saw a political opportunity when he campaigned for office in 1996. He promised and eventually delivered a new code of conduct for ministers that led to the loss of five ministers in his first term.”
Sooo, how did that go?
“The code was eventually abandoned to the point where the latter Howard years are now dragged up as an illustration of how ministerial responsibility barely exists at all anymore.”
http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjVzaW9-6nPAhWKopQKHWhkApYQFggbMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.net.au%2Fnews%2F2010-02-17%2Fyes-minister-no-minister-sacked-minister%2F334722&usg=AFQjCNGXWM71AMR7PpSwWaXskYH9s4G4cA
My anger is directed at the fact that these lying little rodents are not accountable. Ooops, my bad. We get to vote every few years.
Take care
From Kyran’s link….the ultimate intergenerational debt
If Australia stays with its 2020 target of 5%, the subsequent decade would require the most stringent program of emission cuts. We would have to halve our emissions in 10 years, and even then we would be left with only 14% of our total emissions budget to cover the remaining 20 years to 2050.
‘ invasive native scrub’
They don’t give up do they?
They can put spin on anything.
What was the “explosive report also issued in May”? Was it from the Environmental Defenders Office?
It was research done by ANU’s Associate Professor Philip Gibbons, a leading biodiversity expert, based on satellite data
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/bombshell-just-onesixth-of-rural-landclearing-tracked-in-nsw-anus-philip-gibbons-says-20160502-gojvkw.html
Even Greg Hunt wouldn’t think that his abysmal input into the role of Minister for Environment,
in probably one of the most important periods of our climate life,
was a job well done.
Hunt needs to know that he will be flayed for his deliberate incompetence and malevolent mismanagement.
We just need to be clever
how we present his dreadful demise
before he can run for cover
and warn his neoliberal loonie mates
that they face the same ugly fate.
‘Ere enuff of this numbscullery, move along, ladeeez an’ genlemenz, move roit along now. If its invisible it can’t ‘urt ya. We ‘ave over ‘ere a loverly plebiscite – gay marriage, ooh nasty, eh, wot? makes yer ‘air curl, it woz Labor wot dunnit, look ere good people of Orstraya and fink of the kiddeez we must fink of the kiddeez.
No one said no so, a link to this article is, I hope, now sitting in Greg Hunt’s inbox.
Think he’ll get the message? Not likely.
Matters Not September 25, 2016 at 4:03 pm – But he missed a beat when he changed hands!
Kaye Lee – A royal commission we must have !! – with findings to be inculcated into our national school curriculum.
Harquebus,
If I thought it would do any good I would send things to politicians but bitter experience has taught me that it is pointless, particularly since Hunt already knows all this even if he won’t acknowledge it publicly. I have rung offices and spoken to advisers pointing out the facts and questioning the lies. They are programmed to just repeat them. I do, however, think MPs in marginal seats start,to pay attention if they hear from enough people near election time.
They would rather pay tens of millions to media monitoring firms to tell them what we think than actually read it for themselves for free. I have come to the conclusion that everything that comes out of a politicians’ mouth has been put there by a marketing machine after being road tested with a group of the most ignorant people they can find. Instead of getting independent advice from experienced public servants and experts, they commission reports, appoint patsies, set terms of reference designed to give them the outcome they want to hear, and then get some staffer to brief them on the phrases they can use at a press conference. Or better still, use an online poll and mobilise the troops – Young Liberals love that sort of stuff. That’s the best way to determine policy particularly on immigration and climate change and education – but not if we are talking discrimination in which case the majority will decide if they will “allow” the minority to have the same rights as them and the whole country must vote.
The politicians will follow the people so I have decided the best help I can be is to try to inform people of verifiable facts that can be passed on.
Good luck in getting a response from Mr Hunt. He, like Andrew Robb, has moved on. Thrust, disembowel, disengage.
True, he won’t even see it. He won’t even know it was ever sent to him. The email (if you’re lucky) will be sent to the relevant department to respond (and it won’t be Hunt’s current department, but his former department), and a public servant will put together a response from ‘approved words’ that will contain nothing but glowing praise about the government.
Michael, Royal Commissions may or may not have value. Take the most recent as an example. You know the one under Dyson Heydon which was set up as a political ‘witch hunt’ which ‘crashed and burnt’ even though it had time extensions and cost a lot of ‘treasure’.
Royal Commissions into matters ‘scientific’ are joke as are RCs into religions that date from the 7th Century and have ‘adherents’ across the world. What about an RC into whether there’s the slightest evidence for a Christian, Islamic or Jewish God? And I will leave the Hindus out of it because they have so many ‘Gods’ and the Hindus are the fastest growing demographic here in Australia.. And then there’s the Buddhists who ..
Why not get serious? (Just joking).
In the months since the Commission reported, a string of the charges he recommended have been thrown out or withdrawn. In fact, six months later, there has only been one conviction, resulting in a suspended sentence. The only big fish to be caught since the establishment of Heydon’s star chamber has been the Commission’s own star witness, Kathy Jackson.
The last Budget allocated $6 million more for the AFP-Victorian Police joint taskforce, which currently has outstanding cases against a grand total of six unionists. By contrast, taskforce Argo in Queensland, focused on child exploitation, has a budget of $3 million.
For another contrast, here are a few of the cases of alleged wage fraud, misappropriation of worker entitlements and so on that have emerged since Heydon’s Commission was launched: 7-Eleven, Queensland Nickel, Pizza Hut, Myer and Spotless, and lots of small employers in the agricultural sector.
https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/trade-union-royal-commissions-road-to-nowhere,9465
Kaye Lee and Michael
I know what you mean. I have been emailing politicians and journalists for years. Some don’t like me, I wonder why and regularly have to change my alias to be heard.
We could coordinate some attacks.
A subject, a target and a same day blitz. Perhaps once a week or something we all write to or email the same politician or politicians on the same subject. I can also get others to join in and I already have most federal politicians email addresses and a lot of journalist’s as well.
Protecting the environment is one subject most of us can agree on and Greg Hunt is as good as any for a first target. Should we? It wouldn’t be hard.
Not exactly relevant, but why does every independent news outlet have to be so stupidly left wing?
RIPthelegacy, perhaps we actually subscribe to the mantra of being ‘fair and balanced’. Take it seriously about being ‘independent’ and not be beholden to the ‘dollars’ when it comes to a POV. And actually do that.
Perhaps you might provide a ‘link’ to your blog of choice?
How come the right are so adverse to facts? Personally, I hate being lied to but hey, if it makes you feel better to listen to crap then perhaps you should read the Murdoch press.
I thought the best thing I heard about Greg was the misspelling of his last name, to the point where a commentator called him Greg Spelling Error.
Public support for world-leading, federal government-level action on climate change has bounced back, according to a new poll, as people perceive environmental impacts around them and support a larger role for renewable energy production.
The research, conducted by Galaxy with 2000 participants, also found 77 per cent of people now accept that global warming is happening and 60 per cent agree with the science that it is caused by human activity, both notable increases from the organisation’s previous figures.
Respondents cited unprecedented bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef, droughts, heatwaves, animal and plant extinction, melting of polar ice caps, environmental refugees and rising sea levels as reasons for their concern.
Based on focus groups, the Climate Institute also links concerns about global economic uncertainty with the embraced potential of the renewable energy industry, concluding “people are worried about the future and they can see that this makes sense”.
The poll found a massive 90 per cent of poll respondents thought the government has responsibility for action, with 67 per cent saying they should lead it and 23 per cent saying they should contribute.
The government’s Direct Action program will also be reviewed next year, with some analysts predicting a large cash boost for the centrepiece Emissions Reduction Fund – or new policies altogether – will be necessary to meet the 2030 emissions reduction targets.
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/support-for-worldleading-action-on-climate-change-skyrockets-according-to-new-poll-20160925-grnzs8.html
How ya feeling now bestest minister in the whole wide world? Is coal still the miracle that will lift the world’s poor (and us) into prosperity? Are you even a tiny bit ashamed that you will be remembered as the man who got rid of carbon pricing and slashed the renewable energy target?
Matters Not September 25, 2016 at 9:23 pm – I am with you – seems everything can be manipulated depending on who the decider is – cost? what is the consequential cost of living in untruth v’s cost of “truthing” untruth, making politicians (in this case) accountable and learning from the experience – or do we need a yet to be invented or tweeking an existing mechanism to stop untruths in its tracks – truth or untruth, the real power is what we surrender at the ballot box which is lost till the next election – all we have to date is a human construct – suggestions for a solution or we keep doing the same? – perhaps another topic?
Thanks Kaye, but my Monday has just got off to a depressing start…Again! The LNP make me angry, frustrated and angry [again], but not as mad as the MSM. I can no longer watch Lee Sellout on 7.30 and, depending who’s on Q&A, my TV is in danger from flying coffee mugs. I cannot imagine how much worse we will have to become before the masses are allowed to read/view/hear the truth.
The ABC Fact check was doing far too good a job in checking the truth of what politicians were saying. It had to be axed. Likewise they are stopping doing transcripts of programs like 7:30 report making it much harder to check back to what was said in the past. And the Drum online had to go – far too many factual articles questioning what we were being told by politicians. At the ABC we now have people like Greg Jennet and David Lipson being very bland. Sarah Ferguson is now a scripted presenter rather than a live interviewer.
The ABC bashing has made them too scared to call out the crap.
A good way to let Greg Hunt know just how much of a grub he is, is to ring his electorate office in Hastings, Victoria. Phone (03) 5979 3188.
The last time I decided I wanted my disgust at Greg Hunt known, I rang and spoke to a young man to pass on my thoughts, which I politely asked him to make sure Hunt knew. I have no reason to believe Hunt wouldn’t get the message.
Kaye, her boyfriend, a deputy commissioner FWC
RIPthelegacy, I’d be interested in your critique of the information presented above. Any thoughts? Figure 3 here http://www.pittsh.com.au/assets/files/Cedex/CEDEX%20Electricity%20update%20August%202016%20Rev00.pdf shows emissions dropping by about 18% between about Dec 08 and Jun 14, whereupon they increase by about 5% up to about May 16. Question: If I get paid to not cut down my trees this year, can I get paid to not cut them down again next year?
The genius of the Australian Constitution lies in a little subsection called section 75(5). It gives the High Court original jurisdiction in which any person, citizen or non citizen seeks mandamus, prohibition or an injunction against an officer of the Commonwealth. As a result of that tiny little subsection, ministers of the federal government, federal public servants, their agents and others acting on their behalf may be compelled to perform their Constitutional and legal duty and may be restrained from acting in excess of their constitutional or legal power. The section, like lamingtons and Australian Rules Football, is all our own; our own peculiar genius. Not surprisingly, governments of both sides have sought from time to time to cut down the operation of that little subsection; and equally not surprisingly, High Court has resisted their attempts every time. That little subsection is quite unique. It has no equivalent, as far as I know, in any other Constitution. Certainly it has no equivalent in the United States of America. And it is only because America hasn’t got that equivalent provision that we have that legal black hole known as Guantanamo Bay.
In other words our constitution allows ordinary folks to seek the third arm of government the (Judiciary, High court)to Order (Mandate) the Executive arm of government, to honour our treaties and stay within the bounds of those treaties, convention, international laws and declarations.
The High court will order that all responsible officers shall administer treaties, and uphold their duties according to all treaties in which the Commonwealth is a party; and international law and:
– Respond to distress calls and reports of asylum seeker vessels in danger
– Provide rescue, medical treatment, legal advocacy and assisting asylum seekers with refugee status processing in a fair and fast manner as per International conventions.
– Ensure accurate and public reporting of all asylum seeker rescue operations by the Australian Government, Customs, Border Patrol and Royal Australian Navy.
– Close all detention centres offshore; and The High Court writ will mandate all heads of Federal Public Service departments and Armed Services, their agents and others acting on their behalf, to refuse to obey unlawful commands relating to any matter arising under any treaty ; Section 75.(1.) in order to ensure the universal human right to seek asylum is upheld.
This is an edited text of Mary Gaudron’s address to the annual lunch of the Jessie Street Trust held in the Strangers’ Dining Room in the Parliament House, Sydney, on 3 March 2006. Mary Gaudron QC was the first female Judge of the High Court of Australia and served as Justice from 1987 to 2003. She was Deputy President of the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission from 1974 to 1980 and Chairman of the New South Wales Legal Services Commission from 1979 to 1980. She was appointed Solicitor-General of New South Wales in 1981 and held this office until her appointment to the bench in 1987. She is currently a Judge with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Administrative Tribunal and the member of a panel of external and independent experts who have been appointed by the Secretary-General to explore ways to redesign the system of administration of justice at the United Nations.
Remembering the Universal Declaration
By Mary Gaudron
Who will join me to challenge little mister Hunt?
Misleading and deceptive representations, leading right up to election day 2nd July 2016,
There is now clear evidence of fraud, misleading and deceptive conduct by members of Cabinet. This crookedness needs to be exposed. The sectional interests of our Government Ministers’ Corporate donors are taking precedence over the national interest, and the sustainability of financing for the Renewable Energy Industry.
In 2015,Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann directed the Clean Energy Finance Corporation to exclude investments in household and small-scale solar from the $10 billion fund in the future. The draft investment mandate called for “mature and established clean energy technologies … including wind technology and household small-scale solar” to be excluded from the Corporation’s activities.
Interestingly, the authority to make such changes can only come from the Parliament, not the Executive.
The Executive cannot change an Act of Parliament. The Parliament also authorises the Executive Government to spend public money (not the other way around).
Any change such as the revocation of a part and/or a new investment mandate to the CEFC Act 2012 may only be modified by amendments made, requested or agreed to by the Senate. Stephen Keim QC has provided advice to environmental groups about the Government’s ability to direct the CEFC. He said the Government had the power to put in place an investment mandate but it had to “tread a fairly thin line”.
During 1998, American Petroleum Institute (API), the USA’s largest oil trade association (member companies include BP, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Exxon-Mobil and Shell) planned a “roadmap” for a climate of deception, including a plan to have “average citizens” believe that the realities of climate science were vague and uncertain.
Australians have been subject to fraudulent and misleading representations, regarding climate change over the past ten years by the people we elected.
The direct effect of the CEFC ‘Responsible Ministers’ acting as de facto or shadow directors of the CEFC has been to create the perception that Australian policy support for clean energy is uncertain or diminished.
These are the same negative outcomes envisaged by the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) 1998 campaign.
A third entity involved in this deception is the pressure group, the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA). The IPA was founded by a conglomerate of like-minded groups at the same time as the Liberal Party formed in 1943-44 after the break-up of the United Australia Party. The policy agenda of the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) has been linked directly to LNP policy ever since.
To put these linkages in context: The law frowns on the abuse of authority by any elected official i.e. to act with the intention to dishonestly gain a benefit for another person and/or cause detriment to another. This behaviour is defined in law as ‘Misfeasance’ In most cases, the essentials to bring an action of misfeasance in public office are; that the office-holder acted illegally, knew he/she was doing so, and knew or should reasonably have known that third parties would suffer loss as a result.
The last Parliament (2013-2016) twice declined to allow the Executive’s Bill to Abolish the CEFC to become law. Subsequently, the Executive arm of Government had tried for two years to change the CEFC
investment mandate.
Recently, while in caretaker mode, the LNP created a different investment mandate directive (in order to appear to the electors to have authority) to modify the intent of the CEFC Act, without returning to the Parliament (which BTW no longer existed). So apparently they were preparing to seek such an alteration to the CEFC Act in (the next) the 45th Parliament.
During the election campaign Prime Minister Turnbull purported to have the authority to redistribute $1billion from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to fund his new Clean Energy Innovation Fund (CEIF).
$1 billion was also set aside to finance a ‘Better Cities Fund’ announced two thirds of the way through the campaign.
And a further $1 billion ‘drawn ‘ from the “Green Bank ” to clean up the Barrier Reef ($0.6 Billion) is mentioned in an advertisement in the Australian newspaper for jobs to deliver higher water quality in farm runoff in what looks like a subsidy to sugar / ethanol industry.
$100 million was set aside to prevent the closure of the Steelworks in Whyalla SA, and the University of Tasmania’s Northern Campus in Launceston received a pledge of $150 million to be extracted from the CEFC.
These monies from ARENA are part of the proposed omnibus legislation meant to wedge the ALP. Prime Minister Turnbull is fundamentally saying to Tasmanians “you can have an expanded Northern Campus or a renewable energy industry, but you cannot have not both”.
Malcolm promised money he cannot access, with the total pledged so far being $5.6 billion.
Cabinet Ministers have conspired to remove all funds from the CEFC by pledging the total amount left in the CEFC account to other ‘good LNP causes’.
At the same time Malcolm Turnbull is subsidising the fossil fuel industry with $24 billion of taxpayer funds. This includes exploration funding for Geoscience Australia and tax deductions for mining and petroleum exploration.
Prime Minister Turnbull, Deputy Prime Minister Joyce, Former Prime Minister Abbott, Ministers Pyne, Hockey, Cormann and Hunt are attempting to falsely convince the public that the Cabinet can “re-purpose and re-direct the Act” without going back through the Parliament. These changes to the CEFC Act 2012 are still to be legislated.
Let’s consider the limits the Clean Energy Finance Corporation Act 2012 imposes on the responsible Minister’s mandate.
Section 65: The responsible Ministers must not give a direction under subsection 64(1):
(a) that has the purpose, or has or is likely to have the effect, of directly or indirectly requiring the Board to, or not to, make a particular investment; or
(b) that is inconsistent with this Act (including the object of this Act).
The object of The Clean Energy Finance Corporation Act (2012) is to facilitate increased flows of finance into the clean energy sector.
Joe Hockey and Mathias Cormann attempted to skirt around the law. If this gross ideological interference had not happened, the growth and jobs in the clean energy industry might have delivered some real balance to the downturns in other parts of the economy.
The LNP Cabinet is in contempt of Parliament. Its Ministers have betrayed our trust.
The LNP and the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) are still using the same script and still following the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) line of climate deception.
In a move away from API policy, in September 2014, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden in an interview with the Washington Post said: “Let me be very, very clear. For us, climate change is real and it’s a threat that we want to act on. We’re not aligning with sceptics” (Mufson 2014), Mufson is a director of Shell USA.
Fraudulent representation means making of a false statement about a material fact, with the knowledge that such statement is false, to another person with an intention that such other person to whom that statement is made must believe it as true and must act upon it resulting in an injury to the person to whom such false representation is made.
Conclusion
There are strong connections between the API and the IPA’s disinformation and the LNP campaign aims.
The links are there. The wrongs have been done. Let us join together to promote public debate on this matter.
http://www.findlaw.com.au/articles/4433/deceptive-and-misleading-conduct-by-corporations-t.aspx
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2015/hockey-sets-impossible-targets-for-cefc-in-green-investments-62743
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/australias-renewable-energy-investment-grinds-to-a-halt-20150414-1mkn70.html
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/government-pulls-the-plug-on-household-solar-20150712-gian0u.html
http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/RP9596
AUDIO: CEFC seeks legal advice over Government mandates on wind and solar (Breakfast)
http://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/fight-misinformation/climate-deception-dossiers-fossil-fuel-industry-memos – .V9fkLmURqEI
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-08/verrender-why-stop-at-the-mining-tax/5726276
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-13/government-accused-of-trying-to-shut-down-cefc-by-stealth/6614446
https://ipa.org.au/library/publication/1345447840_document_be_like_gough.pdf
http://www.austill.edu.au/journals/2011/i.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-12/government-lobbies-for-cefc-to-stop-wind-farm-funding/6613590
https://www.evernote.com/shard/s706/nl/2147483647/b1f0c299-c76c-4e8e-9121-fc2054bbc328/
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/turnbulls-sleight-of-hand-on-clean-energy-investment-63202
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jun/20/how the coalition-is-using-clean-energy-financing-as-an-election-slush-fund-australia
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/chicken-little-abbott-and-brandis-wrong-on-lawfare-20150821-gj4htj.html
http://www.themercury.com.au/news/tasmania/libs-match-utas-funding-pledge/news-story/e4b625ce3aaf58402ede3543b703452e
http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/second-tasmania-basslink-will-need-at-least-1000mw-of-new-renewables-89558
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/08/abbott-says-lobbyists-as-liberal-party-power-brokers-could-lead-to-corruption
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/19/clean-energy-finance-corp-could-sue
http://www.cleanenergyfinancecorp.com.au/the-public-interest-disclosure-(pid)-scheme.aspx
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2012A00104
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/jul/12/coalition-bans-clean-energy-finance-corporation-wind-power-investment
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jun/13/when-you-poke-the-coalitions-great-barrier-reef-rescue-mission-it-crumbles
https://www.ucsusa.org/The-Climate-Deception-Dossiers.pdf
http://www.lectlaw.com/def/f079.htm
http://www.theenergycollective.com/gcooperrfa/227356/busting-big-oil-myths-renewable-fuel-standard-part-i
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/abbotts-climate-change-policy-is-bullshit-20091206-kdmb.html
John Ward
johnlward010@gmail.com
03 62921211
20 Grosse Road
Gordon
Tasmania
7150
John Ward, MY MAN, count me in (modestly unfortunately), in crowd funding this matchstick in LNP’s path (drunk crosses 8 lane highway only to trip on a toothpick on the footpath)
Moral? do sweat the small stuff (only lots of small stuff makes big stuff)
Count me in too, John Ward.