Abbott’s war on the environment is facing some tough opposition

June 8, 2014 Letitia McQuade Environment 33

Image from youonlyliveonce.com.au

Big mining may have put the COAL in the Coalition, but Abbott’s war on the environment is facing some tough opposition.

To spite the Climate Change Authority predicting that the scrapping of the carbon tax will lead to a 17% increase in emissions (over 2000 levels) by 2020, the urgency of the climate situation seems totally lost on our government. It appears the LNP would prefer to destroy the CCA, (and every other climate/renewable agency/initiative in the country) rather than heed their sobering warning.

Mean while, back in the real world, those of us who value scientific consensus over the bloated opinions of fox news, corporate toadying shock jocks and all the other wilfully ignorant, vested interest denialists, are rightly concerned.

The science is in, and it’s not looking good. While a certain amount of climate change is now inevitable, we have a small window in which to avoid the CATASTROPHIC consequences of a major climate shift. Almost everyone seems to understand this, except our government.

Let’s face it, the profoundly short term “Après moi le déluge”, attitude of Abbott and his cronies is certainly not the quality of response any one with half a brain would want from those at the helm. That is of course unless you are coal miner, in which case Tony is definitely your man on the inside!

In the run up to last years federal election big mining and energy poured over $1,000,000 in declared donations into LNP coffers, (not that anyone would be so bold as to suggest that may have wielded any influence on Coalition policy). It is however worth noting that the LNP’s largest donor, the Cormack Foundation, is an entity designed to shield the identity of donors,which means that the true figure could actually be much larger, but we would never know.

So … in stark contrast to the rest of the developed world, the coalition is determined to push it’s demonstrably ideological position in favour of coal, and wind back, (rather than ramp up), Australia’s climate action. In series of moves, that could only be described as economically reckless, including the dismantling the PROFITABLE clean energy fund (potentially costing thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions in sustainable investment and development), the LNP appear determined to trash the renewable energy industry. While this course seems to defy all logic (especially when one is supposedly managing a “budget emergency”) quick application of Occam’s razor would suggest that the LNP must have been bought and paid for by big mining and energy.

If you look at the coalition’s much ridiculed “direct action” policy, a policy that removes the cost of acquiring carbon credits from big mining and energy and then hands them tax payers money in return for some nebulous promise to behave nicely, it reads like something Energy Australia might have put on their christmas list.

Admittedly with Abbott at the wheel Australia’s environmental landscape appears overwhelmingly bleak, but the outcome is far from a foregone conclusion. The global commitment to acting sensibly is growing fast, with both the US and China moving aggressively to reduce emissions and embrace renewables. Those of us who wish to run along side them should take some heart in the fact that our senate is far from compliant with Tony’s madness, and that it is a long way from policy to legislation.

While we may not hear about it in the Murdoch press there is considerable senate pressure being brought to bear on the government over it’s lunatic climate policies.To wit something rather special happened in parliament recently that I would like to share with you. Amongst all the argy-bargy of the post budget wrangling Greens senator Scott Ludlam, armed with nothing more than intelligent line of questioning, managed to unravel the sad truth behind the LNP’s “direct action” climate policy. Which is, quite counter to all their rhetoric, not even the government expect their direct action policy to actually reduce emissions (in real terms), let alone energy prices in the longer term.

In a stunning display of political acumen Ludlam tore through the LNP’s rhetoric, establishing that not only is the LNP’s direct action policy not expected to reduce emissions, the LNP haven’t actually done the modelling required to give us so much as an estimated reduction in emissions.

While the LNP readily admit “direct action” will cost a lot, about $2 Billion (AU) over the forward estimates (not to mention the revenue lost from abandoning carbon pricing), under Ludlam’s relentless interrogation they were forced to admit that they may even need to “find” a bit more money for the scheme.

It was an eye opening display, and one that warmed my heart. It was a real pleasure to see the quality of interaction elevated above that of school yard cat calling; to actually see intelligent, articulate scrutiny sweep aside the slogans and cut to the heart of the matter. I congratulate Mr Ludlam, and I sincerely hope we may we see many more of his calibre entering politics on all sides!

Is the Coalition driving renewable energy investment overseas?

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About Letitia McQuade 27 Articles
Letitia McQuade is a writer, business person, and an award winning screenwriter and film maker. As a post grad, she studied creative writing at Melbourne University, and has a BA in Film and TV from VCA. Letitia has owned and run numerous small businesses in retail, manufacturing and real estate.

30 Comments

  1. <

    The wanker Abbott …. the wanker Abbott will be desperate for Obama not to mention Climate Change.

    He will probably have to point to his wife ….. whoops ! …. probably have to point to Credlin and say … "isn't she a good sort ?".

    After the first repeated sentence by the wanker Abbott …. the wanker Abbott …. Obama will most likely be in discussions with HIS generals to see if he can nuke Australia …. or at least … "stop the planes".

  2. <

    The wanker Abbott … the wanker Abbott doesn't want to talk to anyone or say anything.

    He just wants to be seen on the world stage.

    The wanker Abbott .. the wanker Abbott knows that if he opens his mouth the rest of the world will laugh at him.

    Australia is already laughing at him because he thinks he should be front and centre in every photo.

  4. <

    @"Hotspringer"

    So pleased the extreme evangelical right wing are reading this site.

  5. The wanker Abbott………..the wanker Abbott just loves his dress uniform parades, the soldiers standing to attention, the pomp and circumstance, the rubbing shoulders with the world’s leaders. Economics? not so much. meeting with the head of the IMF, the US Treasury and the World Bank in private? Not so much. After all what good is a meeting with someone important if no one knows about tit?
    The wanker Abbott……the wanker Abbott is all about his own personal gain. HIS own self enrichment. HIS own self aggrandizement. HIS own personal prestige.
    To the wanker Abbott…..the wanker Abbott Australia comes a distant second to his own needs and desires.

  9. Alan Hunter, I am very pleased that you chose to read that far. I thank you for your attention to detail and your taking the time to point out my error :-). Further I am glad to see that you really embraced the heart of the matter and thus concluded the only thing comment worthy is my one spelling error..
    I would be most disappointed if I were to repeat such an error in future, but as we are all unpaid I have no money for proof reader, are you offering your services? I would be ever so grateful… thank you 🙂

  11. Letitia
    I think your article spot on
    Big coal
    That’s where coalition get there name
    Coal-ition
    They just need to get rid of the ition bit

    Maybe they need to be tied next to a coal mine that is on fire
    And left for dead, like Morwell was and that fire is still burning underground
    Can burn for thousands of years literally,
    I thought we lived in a fair country
    I now know the fairness went out the window years ago

  12. Letitia, thanks for your article and clip of Senator Ludlam in action.
    I don’t think that Abbott realizes just how stupid he appeared when comparing the idiotic “direct action” policy with President Obama new emissions program.

  14. So let me get this straight,

    They appoint the climate change DENIER Bernardi to chair the committee. He then gets offended when Scott Ludlum uses the word “DENIER” because it has nasty historical connotations. This from the man who linked gay marriage to bestiality, and single parenting to criminality and promiscuity.

    WANKER BERNARDI IS A CLIMATE CHANGE DENIER

  15. At the end of Insiders this morning they showed Tony trying to speak French to small children. I wanted to sit in a corner and rock with my fingers in my ears.

  16. The Newman government in Queensland, perhaps encouraged by the Abbott government’s disdain for renewable energy initiatives, has since coming to office completely eliminated feed-in tariffs for new home solar installations – a breach of an election promise – and now seems hell bent on denigrating and name calling (e.g. latte sippers) those who responded to previous incentives – moi included – to cut down on fossil fuel energy generation.

    Over the last couple of years, electricity prices have increased by over 50% in Queensland and a further 13% to come from July this year. We were initially told a whole raft of stories ranging from poles and wires investment (or over investment) to the rising price of coal and more recently that us bludgers who installed solar were indulging ourselves in middle class welfare at the expense of the rest of the community ; a small voice from the back of the crowd has been saying repeatedly that the reason for the increases is to make the sell off of our generators and distributors more attractive to offshore investors.

    If the Newman government is re-elected in 2015 they will, with some justification, claim that they have a mandate to privatise our energy assets but the trick for them , as John Howard noted with the GST, is to keep it way down the list of pre-election commitments and then elevate it to number one the day after the election.

    http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/solar-users-the-champagne-and-latte-sipping-set-tim-nicholls-20140605-zrz9f.html

  17. Abbott can’t even pretend to have any credibility when it comes to climate change. When that fruitcake Monckton toured here in 2010, Tony met with him.

    “Mr Abbott said yesterday it was the job of the Opposition Leader to meet people with a significant argument to make and that he was not an ”intellectual snob”. (Does that mean he prefers the advice of unqualified fools?)

    ”I think that you actually come up with better policy if you’re prepared to have a discussion not just with people who say yes sir, yes sir, three bags full, sir.” (gee then why employ Maurice Newman and Tony Shepherd and Henry Ergas, and Dick Warburton and Kevin Donnelly)

    Lord Monckton said he told Mr Abbott his $3.2 billion policy to reduce carbon emissions by 5 per cent was unnecessary because carbon affected the atmosphere only one-seventh of what the United Nations said it did. (and he’d know based on his….ummm….non-existent peerage?)

    But Lord Monckton added that Mr Abbott’s policies to encourage tree planting and to help industry save energy would help address ”genuine” environmental problems.

    ”It is indeed better to have a policy which nods to the issue of climate change for those who still believe, and there are some diehards who still believe, that fixes some of the genuine environment issues that are a lot cheaper than the enormous amounts diverted to this ridiculous climate thing,” Lord Monckton said.

    Later Monckton told the National Press Club that human-emitted carbon emissions were not warming the planet, that increased sun activity accounted for recent higher temperatures, and that the draft negotiating text at December UN climate talks had proposed setting up a world government.”

    http://www.smh.com.au/environment/mad-monk-meets-monckton-20100203-ndl9.html

  18. OMG can someone reign him in
    Where’s Peta,oh she has deserted him, pretty obvious
    and the GG knows Tone’s is toxic
    So they shoved him out of country,
    He and his gov are sliding into oblivion 🙂

  19. Oh gawd. Abbott hasn’t even got a good command of the Queen’s English, let alone trying his hand at French. By the way, how do you say ‘um’ and ‘arrrr’ in French? Or how about ‘suppository’?

    What was he trying to say? I missed it, unfortunately.

    Let me guess: he’s stopped the boats, we’re open for business, la de da de da. Um, arrrr, um, arrrr.

  20. He was trying to ask their names and then tell them his name (didn’t work even after coaching from the teacher). He then said ” premier de l’australie c’est moi” which means “first Australia is me”. The kids stood there in silence. Tony kneeled down, the kids tried to squat or bend – the whole thing was humiliating.

  21. Those of us who wish to run along side them should take some heart in the fact that our senate is far from compliant with Tony’s madness, and that it is a long way from policy to legislation.

    That might be true of the current Senate, but they are ultimately irrelevant to the future of Australia’s CC policy direction (or anything else). The new Senate is going to be what matters, and given that not only does PUP agree with scrapping carbon pricing but wants to compensate people who’ve had to pay it, it does not augur well.

  23. I know that there are many areas of NSW under threat–There is eg The Garden of Stone NP
    on the western slopes of the Blue Mountains-
    areas around and very close to the Garden of Stones National Park are to be mined extensively
    Causing all sorts of problems -re run off -pollution and environmental destruction
    The same can be said for an area of pristine bushland around Boggabri in northern inland NSW
    It will cause enormous problems to the river environmental landscapes to the area! Much is at stake now
    In the meantime our governmetns alllow such industry without any regard to environemntal laws
    they are-it appears -dismantling these environmental laws! It is an awful future -No carbon tax either of course

  24. And in years to come we will be importing, and paying for, green energy technology because this lot were so short sighted. Yeah they really care about our kids. No financial debt but and environmental debt to die for. Let’s balance the budget and sell off our carbon to the world and choke on the coming heat waves. This is crime against humanity. Our carbon does not stay here we are simply exporting it just to have it return in spades. Meanwhile let the poor bare the burden
    I saw Insiders where journalist tread the slippery slide of half baked insipid tokenism afraid to confront the real issues head on. Then the embarrassing attempt by Australia’s born and bred literati trying to bumble his way through French not realizing the French are very sensitive about their language being eviscerated by an illiterate fool. Truly an edifying experience for all.
    He is destroying our intentional reputation every time he opens his mouth either when in the country net alone outside it. Tony you could come home and try to fix up your mess but no we have to suffer the amateur Muppet Show instead.
    Certainly like Ludlam he has a knack asking incriminating questions and providing sharp cutting, but witty, responses.

  25. Abbott and his kind, unreflecting fundamentalists and literalists do not understand how the natural world works. Everything, they think, requires agency. Thus intelligent design, morality are impossible without divine underwriting. They don’t understand how complexity and diversity evolves out of fundamentals as long as energy is available.

  26. Queensland LNP taking on a risky ploy to have Clive Palmer brought before the Crime & Misconduct Commission for lobbying the Queensland government on behalf of his business interests, before he became a federal MP.

    They will have to prove his intent to corrupt them as far as I can see.

    If they succeed they could have him thrown out of parliament which is clearly their objective but there is also a thing called abuse of privilege.

    Watch this space !

  28. Abbott and his kind, unreflecting fundamentalists and literalists do not understand how the natural world works.

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