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Morrison Tells Us That We’re Doing 23% In A Canter, But 45% Would Be Armageddon!

Typical ABC! I was listening to Jon Faine the other day and he openly admitted that he did something which will greatly benefit the Labor Party. Scott Morrison was his losing voice and Faine admitted that he gave ScoMo’s minders advice that would help get it back! It’s almost as if Faine realises that a silent Scott would be a great boon to the Labor Party so he felt the need to do all he could to help restore Morrison’s speech.

Just recently our fill-in PM was getting all hot under the collar and telling us that a 45% target was impossible…

Now I feel that I need to point out that he was talking about a renewable energy 45% target and not the two-party preferred vote for the Coalition in the coming election. The way ScoMo’s going, he looks like he may achieve that.

Of course, nothing seems to be working for the Coalition at the moment. Whether it’s their Barnaby Joyce saying he really should be leader, or calls for coal-fired power stations, everything they touch seems to turn to excrement. They even lacked the ability to simply say, “Look, we understand that these kids are upset and we are doing all we can to reduce climate change, so it’d be better if they just went to school and prepared themselves to be educated enough to seek the solutions when their time comes”, which have been far better than belittling the protesters and suggesting that they’d been “brainwashed” by all these Trotskyite teachers who have such appalling communist leanings as thinking that scientists who had studied the situation might be worth listening to. Or at least, have a more informed opinion than radio personalities who grow confused about which penis is theirs in public toilets.

The government seem to have a simple strategy for making us forget all about their latest stuff-up: they make an even bigger one so that we quickly move on and don’t dwell on that minister who did something inappropriate and would have resigned straight away in those days when ministerial integrity meant something…

You know the funny part is that I’ll bet you could try to name all the ministers I’ve just described, and someone could probably come up with another one.

But in some ways, this is an effective strategy. It means that we don’t dwell on the absurdity of Morrison’s statements about the renewable energy targets. For months, we’ve been told that we’ll easily meet our Paris targets and there’s no need for any further action. And the 23.5% renewable energy target is like Baby Bear’s bed. It’s just right and we can go to sleep.

Now let’s think about this for a second. If this was anything else would we say that we’re going to meet the target easily so there’s no need for a higher/lower target figure? For example, does this make sense? “We aimed to cut the road toll by ten percent, and it looks like we’ll do it easily so we’ll be taking booze buses off the road for the rest of the year.”? Or “We planned to save $300 million with target efficiencies, and it looks like we’ll do it easily so we’re going to ease up and just let people waste a few dollars here and there.”

While we’re able to reach 23.5% renewables without a worry, the slightly higher figure of 45% will destroy the economy, according to Prophet Scott. There will be great winds and a terrible shaking and the temple of Mammon will be split in two and your neighbour will take your job and then loseth his own because…

Because we had more renewables in the system.

Of course, nobody is asking Scott the Bewildered to explain exactly how the greater reliance on renewables would ruin our economic health. We’re just meant to accept it as a given because even the most basic questioning tears it to shreds.

  1. Cost? Renewables are now cheaper than coal.
  2. Reliability? Battery storage is pretty well advanced and by 2030, there should be more efficiencies. Compare the mobile phones of today with those of eleven years ago. Yes, we did have the first iPhone, but it didn’t do half what today’s will do. Besides, it’s only 45%. There’ll still be 55% relying on fossil fuels which should be enough to provide that mythical baseload power that renewables supposedly can’t supply.
  3. People in the mining industry losing their jobs? Well, mining only employs a fraction of our workforce and coal is only a small part of that. How many jobs will renewables create?
  4. People in the coal-fired power station becoming redundant. Again, will this be balanced by jobs in the renewable sector?

Now, maybe there’s some other reason that I haven’t mentioned. Perhaps Scott knows something that I don’t. If so, I think that it’s incumbent on him to share how and why he sees Labor’s target as the wrecker that he promises it’ll be.

Whatever, we shouldn’t dwell too much on this. With this government, you know that everything changes. Take Milo Yiannopoulos. First, he was banned, then our Immigration Minister personally approved his visa, but now Milo has been banned again. So, I’m sure that there’ll be something in the coming days to focus our attention away from climate change and terrorism and Barnaby.

Another poor Newspoll and a challenge from Dutton? But before you decide that’s too ridiculous to even consider, let me remind you, these are the people who didn’t see a problem with voting for the “It’s Ok to be White” legislation, and then defended it by arguing they weren’t even aware of what they were voting for.

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28 comments

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  1. Andrew J Smith

    ‘these are the people who didn’t see a problem with voting for the “It’s Ok to be White” legislation, and then defended it by arguing they weren’t even aware of what they were voting for.’

    Like the Nuremberg trials, ‘just following orders’.

    Moral compass?

  2. Peter F

    55% reliance on coal fired power stations? Where is the investment plan to guarantee even that? Fortunately, business AND the market has already decided to ignore this ‘government of leaners’. ( I nearly typed ‘learners’ but that would be misleading).

  3. whatever

    Correct usage is ‘AT a canter’.
    Scotty visited a Coptic Church to show solidarity……..oh well, he got photographed with some Middle Eastern types. Can’t be seen ‘palling around with terrorists’.

  4. Yvonne Robertson

    Goodness knows what they truly believe but I think generally they don’t care what the truth is as long as they’re winning and making squillions for themselves and their masters, which to date have been the mining and fossil fuel industry. Look how easily Dutton now suggests that ideas for new coal fired power stations are a thing of the past.

    The research told them they were going to be swept into oblivion if they didn’t change and start talking about doing something regarding emissions and climate change. Trouble is they’ve backed the wrong pony for too long and now find themselves cantering along with a foot in the stirrups of two different horses. I think they’re headed for an ugly accident and it’s called the Federal Election.

    Still it probably won’t be as bad for them as it could have been as they have the might of Ruppie and Sky on their side – all the laughable rags and television stations which now include the ABC. What I’m hoping to see is them ripping themselves asunder and forming a breakaway group so that it takes them at least 23 years to get back into office – or maybe never again.
    Sweet dreams are made of this.

  5. Alcibiades

    “It is Okay to be Bigot !” he loudly declared, on the floor of the House of Reps.

    The words of our previous first Law Officer of the Crown, Attorney General George Brandis.

    Both sides of Government, Liberal & Notional, have labelled Fraser Anning’s speech ‘appallingly racist’, saying it was incumbent on all Coalition politicians to at least give the false impression they’re not inflaming race issues to garner votes.

    Denouncing the speech, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said talk of a return to the White Australia Policy was ‘disgusting’ and ‘out of step with modern Australia’, reminding voters that African gangs were running rampant in our cities, especially Melbourne.

    “This sort of speech has no place in Australia’s parliament in 2019, or in Melbourne or even Moorabbin for that matter, where it’s impossible to grab a coffee these days without being accosted by a Sudanese criminal or gang member”.

    Home Affairs Uber-Minister Peter Dutton echoed the Prime Minister’s comments. “I never once used the term ‘White Australia Policy’ when directing that white South Africans asylum seekers should be given preference over non-white asylum seekers & recognised refugees. Mr Anning should be ashamed for using insufficiently veiled hate speech when ‘Rightly‘(sic) inciting intolerance & violence ,” he said.

    Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott added his concerns saying, “I would advise all of my colleagues to use more measured, more respectful, potentially plausibly deniable language when inciting race fears & widespread intolerance, whilst garnering right wing extremist votes”.

    Government Denounces Blatant Racism, Calls For Return To Thinly Veiled Racism

  6. Patagonian

    I see Lardarse Kelly was at the Coptic Church too, hovering gelatinously behind our Dear Leader. I heard the Speech Shorten made at the Kingslake Mosque earlier today.

    Australia’s opposition leader, Bill Shorten said a little earlier that rightwing politicians could not disown their hatred, racism and intolerance.

    “You who want to practice in the name of free speech hate speech, you who hide behind liberty to practice evil, well you have created this swamp of hate,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

    “You cannot disown what crawls out of your swamp.”

  7. Diannaart

    @Yvonne

    I second your sweet dreams.

    @Alcibiades

    Brandis wishing he could unsay all his dumb shit? Nah, probably thinks he’s not that kind of bigot, he’s the friendly tolerant type bigot. That’s how he sleeps at night.

    Patagonian

    Shorten is sounding better and better, has yet to win election and put in actions to compliment his words.

  8. Alcibiades

    @Patagonian & Diannaart

    Brandis will certainly be re-called from his overseas lurk. Apparently amongst the current RWNJs,he’s considered … a moderate ?

    Australia’s opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said a little earlier that rightwing politicians could not disown their hatred, racism and intolerance.

    “You who want to practice in the name of free speech hate speech, you who hide behind liberty to practice evil, well you have created this swamp of hate,” he told reporters in Melbourne.

    “You cannot disown what crawls out of your swamp.”

    Shorten also commented on the 17-year-old boy who was arrested after he cracked an egg on the head of Senator Fraser Anning.

    Video of the incident shows the senator reacting violently towards the boy. The teenager has since been released pending further inquiries.

    Shorten said it was a silly thing to have done. “It doesn’t matter what rubbish the politician was spouting, you don’t want to give this foolish politician, this hurtful politician any sense of the moral high ground because he has none,” he said.

    In the twitterverse there is a no holes barred war going on.

    Murdochs Chris Kenny, accidental Senator Jim Molan, and co. are projecting desperately, bared knuckles, attack-attack, since they cannot purge their documented public record. Have a hunch Duttons radio silence is an acknowledgement of his imminent defeat.

    Paedophile defender John Howards political TV ads in NSW have just been released. Hm, probably a rather poor strategy that, methinks. NSW Libs are attacking NSW Labor on, of all things a hypothetical argument re gun control concerning the Fishers & Shooters party, which LNP were in coalition with last term. Clearly we are supposed to have the memories of goldfish.

  9. Patagonian

    Ahahahahahaha! Brandis a moderate! I will thoroughly enjoy seeing that raging, racist snob getting recalled. The only thing he’s good at is self-promotion. Kenny is getting a pasting on his twitter stream, Molan not so much. He’s hoeing into Zali Steggall accusing her of politicising the terrorist attack in Christchurch for selfish political gain. I note he has not posted anything about Anning and his bully boys.

    Diannaart I think Shorten might now be able to say “The times suit me”.

  10. Andreas Bimba

    It would still be a close election if a limp piece of lettuce led the Liberals and a sheep dropping led the Nationals given that at least half the electorate appear to be wilfully ignorant, brain dead or bigots, relying on oligarchs and paedophiles to make up their minds for them.

    To be fair many of those that vote for the other teams are not that virtuous either but in a fair race ignorance, dumbness and bigotry should balance out amongst the teams and cancel each other out. No longer. The wrong team is put on a high pedestal, shines like gold and wins elections regardless of merit.

    It would be good if Labor just had to have better policies and people to win but who knows what such an electorate now wants and will be allowed to see.

    Our democracy is now so stacked in favour of the Conservatives that it is becoming a farce.

    Nevertheless it looks like Labor will win, but if they don’t also attend to the rot within they will soon be cast off and the limp piece of lettuce and the sheep dropping will again rule and there may not be another chance.

    Great post Yvonne by the way.

  11. Alcibiades

    @Patagonian

    Bookies:

    Federal 2PP
    Labor tightened from 1.18 to 1.14
    Coalition widened from 4.20 out to 5.00

    Tony Abbott stable on 1.75
    Zelli Stegall tightened from 2.00 to 1.90

    Dutton now 3.00
    Labor on 1.33

    Morrison now adamantly refuses to even utter the ‘Verboten‘ word coal … hm …

    Our Kiwi media friends, who have already banned Murdochs Sky News Australia, are now pointing the finger directly at two-faced Morrison, the right wing extremist … on ‘character grounds’ …

    https://mobile.twitter.com/AustraliaVote/status/1107206810383974402?p=v

    Ah, and here we go, the dots are joined, in the wake of ‘events’ :

    Australians are asking how did we get here? Well, Islamophobia is practically enshrined as public policy

    Any 28-year-old Australian has grown up in a time racism was quickly ratcheting up in the country’s public culture

    &

    The ‘how’ is explainable. The ‘why’ is harder to digest

    We are now beginning to see the price to be paid for demonising those arriving by boat seeking asylum.

  12. Henry Rodrigues

    Despite that bastard Murdoch and his f**ken minions, and the craven Kerry Stokes and his Ch 7 dunderheads, and Ch 9 and the once ‘Independent Always’ SMH now very cunningly, being manipulated and directed by that gutless Peter Costello. and of course our very own ABC which has been surreptitiously conscripted into selling the ‘virtues’ of a continued coalition government, and many talking heads in the financial industry giving us the benefit of their insight into why the economy needs the the ‘great’ management of a coalition government to maintain and enhance our standard of living

    And now the ethnic communities have also been recruited, via the unceasing flow of government ads, to remind and cajole us to keep voting for these sobs. Despite all this, it looks like Scummo and his band of dickheads are going to get the biggest most savage kneeing in their nether regions, that will take them a very long time to recover from. Starting with March 23 when the lovely Gladys and her troupe of crooks and grifters get their just desserts and then a few weeks, later the main event.

    May we all live in interesting times.

  13. wam

    wow well said bimba,

    Limp lettuce, lies and luck is all the conservatives have needed in my 8 decades.

    whilst labor needed a whitlam, a hawke, a cake, a lemon and, best of all, a woman with two conservatives.. Shorten is an equal of none of the boys and the only sign of a cake is on the ABC.

    The absolutely essential defeat of this government is not clear to ‘them’.

    who are they?
    not us?
    not you?
    not as smart as you?
    not hearing the same words as you?
    not seeing that which you see?
    not believing the truth you believe?
    not caring about the things you care about?

    Find some of ‘them’ as see what they say, care about, hope for and understand about truth. The you will see that the next 4 years are in the balance rather than in the bag.

  14. helvityni

    Alcibiades,
    “We are now beginning to see the price to be paid for demonising those arriving by boat seeking asylum.” Spot on…
    Good Leader and good cartoonists over there in NZ

    Henry Rodrigues,
    Yes, interesting times indeed, but also very depressing…. cry…

    Patagonian,
    Brandis, Molan, Scomo, Dutton…under which rock do we find those men of calibre…?

  15. Patagonian

    Tony Windsor has called out Morrison:

    @TonyHWindsor
    Your dog whistling of race, religion and division has borne fruit @ScottMorrisonMP, not here but on a softer target . Don’t you dare apologise on my family’s behalf when you have encouraged the problem and fanned the fire . You are a disgrace

  16. DrakeN

    Pategonian;

    If only there were more of the likes of Tony Windsor, then the world would be a much better place.

    If I were religious I would be convinced that Satan is succeeding in dominating the world and that God has failed miserably.

  17. Diannaart

    If reading the Old Testament is any guide (even the NT is not exactly progressive), God would appear to be doing very well, thank you. His Supreme Beingness went in for the smiting of people who displeased Him, not for being particularly evil just because He could, along with the usual double standards with regards to women, children and quite a few men.

    Seems to me not a lot has changed.

  18. DrakeN

    Indeed!

    “…and I will visit the sins of the Fathers upon the third and fourth generations of them that hate me…”

    Lovely chappy, what?!

  19. Patagonian

    Yes I agree the OT has more than its fair share of smiting. If I remember correctly, in one currently apposite instance God recommends the smiting of ‘strangers’ and their wives, simply because they ARE strangers.

    For mine, the bible has been used to justify all sorts of abuses including murder, slavery, repression of women and other minority groups, the cruel exploitation of animals and the destruction of our ecology. I will, as our Dear Leader once said about another matter (which currently escapes me, so vapid are his emissions), have no truck with it.

    Top Smitings from the Bible is quite good, especially the one about the kids calling an adult ‘baldy’: http://www.vexen.co.uk/religion/smite.html

  20. Diannaart

    Patagonian

    Good link.

    My all time go to reference for all things from the god of Abraham is

    https://skepticsannotatedbible.com

    Great for confounding the overly self righteous, especially Evangelicals who appear to be clueless about what is written in texts they claim to be holy.

  21. Patagonian

    Prime Minister Scott Morrison will announce $55 million in community grants to toughen security at mosques, churches, synagogues and religious schools in response to growing concerns about extremism in the wake of the terrorist attack in Christchurch, David Wroe reports.

    Have there been any massacres carried out at Australian churches and synagogues? I couldn’t find any when I googled it,

    “When I say I believe in religious freedom – and I am one of its staunchest defenders in Parliament – I know it starts with the right to worship and meet safely without fear,” Mr Morrison is expected to say at the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce on Monday.

    But it was MUSLIM people who were killed, not Jewish people.

    He’s a disgrace. Good to see that his bright idea of capitalising on ‘Muslim concerns’ back in 2011 is getting plastered all over the net. He can’t run and he can’t hide from this one.

  22. Patagonian

    Thanks Diannaart, hours of hilarity to be had on that link. The Bible has a bloody lot to answer for.

  23. whatever

    Anning went to a Gun Expo yesterday.

  24. Diannaart

    Patagonian

    Easy to see how and why the likes of Morrison spout their hypocritical BS with a background in holy mythology.

    Which is why we need Australia to be fully secular. At present, we have very rightwing Christians in control, how are we meant to have true freedom of religion when a single religion dominates?

    No single religion should dominate the public sphere.

    COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA CONSTITUTION ACT – SECT 116

    Commonwealth not to legislate in respect of religion
    The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.

    Interesting article in the Conversation:

    Even though the 2016 Census revealed that more than 30% of the Australian population identify as having “no religion” – a label that overtook the Catholic faith figure – Christianity’s effect on Australian politics is far from waning.

    Surprisingly, Christians currently number more than 40% of the Coalition government and about 30% of the Labor opposition. This is high for a nation labelled “secular”.

    https://theconversation.com/as-australia-becomes-less-religious-our-parliament-becomes-more-so-80456

  25. Kronomex

    Yeah, you rotten old Labor, you tear up the supposed deal up so we can sneak in and try and use the Shooters and Fishers mob for our benefit. We part our cheeks for anyone that helps us.

    https://www.smh.com.au/nsw-election-2019/scrap-deal-with-shooters-party-howard-and-berejiklian-tell-daley-20190318-p51537.html

    Every time I see caterpillar eyebrows all I can think is, Why, oh why, isn’t there a convenient tar pit nearby for him to step into? Isn’t that where all Mesozoic Era creatures should end up?

  26. Patagonian

    Scott the Grate has had an epiphany:

    Mr Morrison called for a calmer approach to public debate to counter the “shouting from the fringes” on issues including multiculturalism and migration.

    He said the “us and them” debate meant individuals would no longer be defined by their unique worth and contribution but by the “tribe” they belonged to, undermining the “happy coexistence” that made diversity work.

    “As debate becomes more fierce, the retreat to tribalism is increasingly taking over, and for some, extremism takes hold,” Mr Morrison told the Australia Israel Chamber of Commerce in Melbourne.

    This new ‘venerable elder statesman’ schtick is possibly the worst of his iterations so far. It is certainly the most offensive.

  27. Ken Fabian

    The language the LNP leaders use gives it away – it is never about fixing the climate problem, it is always and only about “meeting international obligations” – which leaves open the question of whether they believe those obligations are legitimate and reasonable; it does not directly challenge the extraordinary array of cultivated delusions about what the climate issue is “really” about. Forced on Australians by the UN and green fanatics. Undermining Australian Sovereignty. Global socialist hate of free enterprise. Climate religion requiring sacrifices to the climate gods. Coal hate mania etc, etc. But whilst most of us hear how they are upping the emissions reduction fund (whatever they name it), the core membership are fed a different message, reinforcing the same old memes.

    It also sidesteps the issue of Australia going into negotiations of climate agreements seeking to do the least that can be gotten away with and encouraging other nations to the same, even to seeking allies in withdrawing entirely. 26-28% reductions are insultingly inadequate targets – insulting to the professionals who have provided 3 decades of consistent and essentially unchanging top level expert advice. Insulting to the generations that will live to deal with the climate costs as they come due. What the low ambition represents is a fundamental disbelief in the seriousness or even existence of a real climate problem, let alone one as terrifyingly serious as 3 decades of top level expert advice keep insisting it is.

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