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Tell me what I want to hear

As it becomes increasingly apparent that households will not be $550 a year better off without the carbon tax we hear the rhetoric change.  Andrew Laming said

“It will be $550 lower than it otherwise would be, but if other elements have made prices go up then you won’t see a $550 fall on any bill.  But you’ll be $550 better off than you otherwise would have been, and that’s a very important caveat.”

So if I understand him correctly, because prices are going up at a slower rate that is a cut.  How come the same does not apply to funding for health, education, and pensions?

Despite cutting $80 billion from State funding for health and education, Abbott assures us that this is not a cut because funding goes up each year, albeit by less than promised.  Likewise, Tony repeats over and over that pensions will go up twice a year.  The fact that they will be going up by less (CPI rather than AMWE), thus expanding the relative gap in standard of living, is not to be considered a cut.

Having abandoned carbon pricing, and facing criticism of, and opposition to, its Direct Action Plan, the government, at the behest of its masters, has now set its sights on the Renewable Energy Target.

Jennifer Westacott, Chief Executive of the Business Council of Australia, recently wrote

“We might be able to farewell the carbon tax, but it is just one of a long line of green energy policies which federal and state governments have layered on top of one another that are driving up the cost of electricity.

It is the cumulative impact of these policies that is pushing up the cost of electricity and making our businesses less competitive.

Repeal of the carbon tax therefore must be the beginning of removing shortsighted schemes and programs, and the start of a process to design an integrated approach to climate change and energy policy that supports rather than weighs down our economic competitiveness and jobs.”

Tony Shepherd, the man chosen to lead the “audit” of government expenditure, was also chair of the Business Council of Australia, which threw its weight behind the government’s move to repeal the carbon price.  As a previous chairman of Transfield Services, he has long-established ties to the Liberal Party and ex-NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell, and was an outspoken critic of the Gillard government.  He criticised the carbon tax legislation and warned of the dangers of Australia leading the world on climate change, stating “tails do not wag dogs”.

Shepherd wants nuclear power to be in the energy policy mix, not “excluded on ideological grounds”, which, as Crikey points out, seems to forget that for Australia nuclear power is excluded on simple maths — it’s hideously expensive, compared even with renewables.

In January 2012, Maurice Newman, head of Tony Abbott’s Business Advisory Council, wrote in the Spectator

“Even before they threatened my property, I was opposed to wind farms. They fail on all counts. They are grossly inefficient, extremely expensive, socially inequitable, a danger to human health, environmentally harmful, divisive for communities, a blot on the landscape, and don’t even achieve the purpose for which they were designed, namely the reliable generation of electricity and the reduction of CO2 emissions.”

In an interview on Lateline, Newman said

“I just look at the evidence. There is no evidence. If people can show there is a correlation between increasing CO2 and global temperature, well then of course that’s something which we would pay attention to. But when you look at the last 17.5 years where we’ve had a multitude of climate models, and this was the basis on which this whole so-called science rests, it’s on models, computer models. And those models have been shown to be 98 per cent inaccurate.  CO2 is not a pollutant.”

Newman is calling for the RET to be scrapped  saying

“Whether the Coalition will change their policy on the RET is up to them … I believe it should be removed because the basis upon which we accepted in good faith that we needed it is no longer there.  When we look at the experience of Germany, they have not been successful in reducing emissions; when we look at the science it no longer supports the global warming theory and when we look at the health and economic effects of windfarms and the obscene wealth transfer from poor to rich we have to ask: why are we persisting with them? I think it is a crime against the people.”

David Murray, a former CEO of the Commonwealth bank of Australia, former head of the $90 billion Future Fund, and the man chosen by  Tony Abbott to lead the review of the $5 trillion Australian financial services industry, has also dismissed the threat of climate change, and suggested climate scientists had no integrity.

In an interview on ABC TV’s Lateline Program, Murray said the climate problem is “severely overstated.”

Asked what it would take to change his mind about the climate science, particularly in light of the recent IPCC 5th assessment report, Murray replied: “When I see some evidence of integrity amongst the scientists themselves,” – an interesting comment considering what has come out about shonky practices at the Commonwealth Bank that he led.

He said if he were in a leadership role, he would “set up some scientific approach to get a community consensus here about what is the truth on this matter.” Rather than listening to every major scientific institution around the world, and the overwhelming scientific consensus, he wants “community consensus”?

Murray’s appointment to head the first full scale review of the financial system in 17 years is problematic given his stance on climate change. The financial services industry is probably the most exposed to risk created by a changing climate, changing policy, and the likelihood of stranded assets as the world accelerates towards a low carbon economy.

A growing number of actuaries, advisors and investor groups are raising concerns that banks and funds managers are “flying blind” on climate risk because they are effectively ignoring the issue.

They argue that systemic reviews, be they in finance or resources of manufacturing, need rigorous attention to how the world is changing. Denying climate change is the wrong way to start.

In 2011, Dick Warburton became the executive chairman of the newly-formed lobby group Manufacturing Australia, whose members included big players like Amcor, BlueScope Steel and Boral and small-to-medium business.  Their aim was to urge for a delay to carbon tax legislation.

When Warburton, a self-professed sceptic, was interviewed on the ABC, the following exchange took place:

TICKY FULLERTON: You said earlier today that why should we be doing this when the rest of world is actually pulling out of carbon taxes and the ETS? I’m just wondering what countries you’re thinking about there?

DICK WARBURTON: Canada has announced that they’re not going to go ahead with any carbon tax, so has Korea, so has Japan. They’ve made those announcements they’re not going ahead. And no country has gone ahead with a carbon tax or an ETS since Copenhagen.

TICKY FULLERTON: Can I take you up on that?  Because my understanding is that they are – Japan is still going to be putting a carbon tax in place; in Canada the carbon taxes are being put in – going to be scheduled in through different states. And indeed, in Korea, they used their stimulus money into new green initiatives. And so these are very strong moves. They may be shifted back a bit, but everybody’s moving in that direction, aren’t they?

DICK WARBURTON: No, they might be doing moves like Korea – you’re talking about is the moves of mitigation or moves of change. That’s good. I’m very much in favour of that. But they announced that they would not be introducing an ETS (inaudible). Canada announced it straight after the election. They announced that. Japan, I can’t recall when they made the statement, but Canada and Korea definitely have.

Mr Warburton may like to change his sources of information.

South Korea’s only securities exchange, the Korea Exchange, is reported to have won a contract to operate world’s second largest Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) from the start of 2015.

Two Japanese regions have operational mandatory ETSs in place: Tokyo and Saitama. Similar schemes, although likely voluntary, are being or have been considered for the Osaka-Kansai Prefecture and the Chiba Prefecture.

In March 2010, the Japanese government introduced the “Basic Act on Global Warming Countermeasures.”  An initial feature of the Act was a nation-wide emissions trading system (ETS) that would have begun in April 2013.

While this nation-wide ETS was removed from the Act in December 2010, other cap-and-trade measures, such as the Japanese Voluntary ETS (which began in 2005 and became part of the Experimental ETS in 2008), the Tokyo ETS, and the Experimental ETS (the trial period was for 2008-2012, and the government continues to encourage firms to participate), have been active in the country.

According to Japan’s former National Strategy Minister, Koichiro Gemba, the primary reason that the Japanese ETS was deferred was because fellow nations (particularly the United States and Australia) struggled to develop their own robust climate policies.

With the Government’s recent coal-fired electricity regulations, Canada became the first major coal user to ban the construction of traditional coal-fired electricity generation units.

”Our approach will foster a permanent transition towards lower or non-emitting types of generation such as high-efficiency natural gas and renewable energy.”

The Province of Alberta passed its Specified Gas Emitters Regulation in 2007 establishing an emissions intensity trading scheme.

To achieve its emissions reduction goal, the Quebec government has enacted regulations for an ETS. As with the Californian scheme, it began in 2013.

Warburton said on repeated occasions that climate science was not settled. “On the cause there’s huge debate about whether carbon dioxide is the main cause.”

Last year, Tony Abbott said “We have to accept that in the changed circumstances of today, the renewable energy target is causing pretty significant price pressure in the system and we ought to be an affordable energy superpower … cheap energy ought to be one of our comparative advantages,”

Earlier, the Climate Change Authority’s review of Labor’s renewable energy scheme had concluded that the current targets should be kept. Although it had the statutory obligation to undertake the next review, the government moved quickly to appoint its own inquiry and what better man to appoint to head the RET review panel than Dick Warburton?  The other members of the panel are Matt Zema, the CEO of the Australian Energy Market Operator, Shirley In’t Veld, the former head of WA government owned generation company Verve Energy, and Brian Fisher, the former long-term head of ABARE who gained notoriety for his positions on climate policies and is a noted free-market hardliner.

Environmentalists’ fears that this inquiry was set up to reach a predetermined conclusion were strengthened by the government’s rapid moves to cut funding in this area. The budget recommended the abolition of the $3.1 billion Australian Renewable Energy Agency, or ARENA, an institution formed to help bring new technologies into production and deployment, and to fund Australia’s world-leading solar research. While it retained funding to meet its existing contracts, it had almost no funds to enter into any new agreements.

But what can we expect when we have the Prime Minister who said in a radio interview he understood why people were anxious about windfarms that were “sprouting like mushrooms all over the fields of our country”.

“If you drive down the Federal Highway from Goulburn to Canberra and you look at Lake George, yes there’s an absolute forest of these things on the other side of the lake near Bungendore,” he said.

It must be on the daily song sheet as we heard the Treasurer make similar comments.

“If I can be a little indulgent please, I drive to Canberra to go to Parliament, I drive myself and I must say I find those wind turbines around Lake George to be utterly offensive.  I think they’re just a blight on the landscape.”

The government is under pressure from the coal lobby, incumbent utilities, network operators and state governments to either dump, or sharply reduce the renewable energy target.

As Ross Garnaut said

“Whether or not Abbott really does believe in anthropogenic climate change, it is extraordinary that the four business leaders the government has appointed to senior advisory roles – Dick Warburton on the inquiry into renewable energy, David Murray on the financial system inquiry, Maurice Newman to chair the PM’s Business Advisory Council, and Tony Shepherd to head the Commission of Audit – all share a strong view that the science on climate change is wrong.”

ian macfarlaneSeeing Senator Cory Bernardi heading the Senate Committee into Direct Action – ”I do not think human activity causes climate change and I haven’t seen anything that changes my view. I remain very sceptical about the alarmists’ claims.” – and Senator Ian Macdonald wearing a high vis “Australians for Coal” vest in the Senate at the behest of the Minerals Council, just underlines what we are dealing with – a bunch of hand-picked flat earthers who get their climate advice from Christopher Monckton and Andrew Bolt.

 

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33 comments

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  1. Kaye Lee

    I could also have included the opinion of Tony’s spiritual adviser and confidante Cardinal Pell who has felt qualified enough to make submissions to Senate Committees and give lectures on climate change.

    A couple of notable quotes….

    “Some of the hysteric and extreme claims about global warming are also a symptom of pagan emptiness, of Western fear when confronted by the immense and basically uncontrollable forces of nature. Belief in a benign God who is master of the universe has a steadying psychological effect, although it is no guarantee of Utopia, no guarantee that the continuing climate and geographic changes will be benign. In the past pagans sacrificed animals and even humans in vain attempts to placate capricious and cruel gods. Today they demand a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.”

    And my favourite….

    “Radical environmentalists are more than up to the task of moralising their own agenda and imposing it on people through fear. They don’t need church leaders to help them with this, although it is a very effective way of further muting Christian witness. Church leaders in particular should be allergic to nonsense….. I am certainly sceptical about extravagant claims of impending man-made climatic catastrophes. Uncertainties on climate change abound … my task as a Christian leader is to engage with reality, to contribute to debate on important issues, to open people’s minds, and to point out when the emperor is wearing few or no clothes.”

    Tin foil mitre

  2. diannaart

    “Even before they threatened my property, I was opposed to wind farms. They fail on all counts. They are grossly inefficient, extremely expensive, socially inequitable, a danger to human health, environmentally harmful, divisive for communities, a blot on the landscape, and don’t even achieve the purpose for which they were designed, namely the reliable generation of electricity and the reduction of CO2 emissions.”

    Maurice Newman

    Joe Hockey thinks wind turbines are a “blight on the landscape”.

    However Coal Seam Gas Fracturing is not a problem.

    Thanks Kaye Lee for pointing out the ludicrous hypocrisy of our leaders – because someone has to do it – frequently.

  3. Rob031

    Nietzsche, in “The Twilight of the Idols” (or ‘How to Philosophise with a Hammer’) said something like this:

    “Whatever a priest says MUST be false. This is almost a criterion of truth”

  4. Rob031

    Hypocrisy: “the homage paid by vice to virtue” – couldn’t resist 🙂

  5. chris perram

    “my task as a Christian leader is to engage with reality, ” George, please.

  6. lawrencewinder

    Poor fella, my country…There is an almost childish delight apparent in these mongrels destroying the place…I’t time for Operation: Obliterate Abbott!

  7. Kaye Lee

    You may also be interested to know that we paid for George Christensen, the National Party member for Dawson in Queensland, to go to the Mandelay Bay Resort in Las Vegas for the Heartland Institute conference which started on 7 July.

    Also attending was Dr Bob Carter, who happens to be a constituent of Mr Christensen’s. He is Science Policy Advisor at the Institute of Public Affairs and on a retainer from the Heartland Institute to produce reports to directly challenge the findings of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

    In his maiden speech to Australia’s Parliament, Christensen said: “Despite what the political and media elite tell us to think, the truth is the science on climate change is not settled.”

    Christensen also promoted Heartland’s climate change reports which he said were from “real climate scientists” and showed “the science is nowhere near to being settled”.

    One revealing document is Christensen’s Parliamentary expenses report from 2012 listing 11 climate change and environmental policy books bought by his office at your expense.

    Titles include The Great Global Warming Blunder: How Mother Nature Fooled The World’s Top Climate Scientists by Roy Spencer; The Real Global Warming Disaster: Is The Obsession With ‘Climate Change’ Turning Out To Be The Most Costly Scientific Blunder In History by Christopher Booker and Killing The Earth To Save It: How Environmentalists Are Ruining The Planet, Destroying The Economy And Stealing Your Jobs by James Delingpole.

    Six of the books were bought two months before Christensen was appointed by the then opposition to sit on a key committee to examine carbon price legislation.

    Christensen’s office also bought 25 copies of Australian sceptic and mining entrepreneur Professor Ian Plimer’s book How To Get Expelled From School: A guide to climate change for pupils, parents and punters.

    The previous government’s Department of Climate Change issued a blow-by-blow rebuttal of Plimer’s book, saying it was “misleading” and “based on inaccurate or selective interpretation of the science”.

    http://www.desmogblog.com/2014/06/12/australian-mp-heading-las-vegas-heartland-institute-climate-denial-conference

  8. Anomander

    How is it that Climate Science is so besmirched and heavily attacked, when compared to other branches of science.

    A small team of Quantum Physicists announces they have discovered the Higgs Boson and the world goes “Yay! Despite the fact only a handful of people in the world would even understand the theory, let alone engage with the science. Nobody has ever actually seen a Higgs Boson, felt its effects and measured it – but most people blithely accept the word of the scientists working in that field without question. Apart form tacitly accepting the science and those scientists, does anyone ask – how much did the Large Hadron Collider cost and what exactly does it produce, besides smashing sub-atomic particles?

    An a group of Astrophysicists say they have discovered a planet hundreds of light years away, orbiting a distant star. Despite not ever having seen the planet itself, their sophisticated tools, measurements and techniques are capable of determining the mass, composition, orbit and speed of a celestial body billions and billions of kilometres away. The vast majority of the population take the scientists at their word, even though they would never understand a thousandth of the maths involved. How much did the Hubble Space Telescope cost to build and put into orbit, and apart from looking out at the stars, what value does it add to business? How exactly do we benefit from knowing about a planet we will never be able to visit?

    Tens of thousands of independent Climate Scientists announce the world is warming, icecaps and glaciers are melting, species are dying, ecosystems destroyed, the ocean is acidifying and our very existence is threatened and the only possible cause is human being burning vast quantities of fossil fuels. Yet unlike the other scientists, these particular scientists are accused of perpetrating a scam, a massive hoax, making-up facts and telling lies, despite the fact we can feel and see the world getting hotter, we know more extreme weather events are occurring, we have temperature records, satellite data, observations and mountains of evidence – all fully and freely available in the public domain to support the case.

    Interestingly too, Climate Science isn’t just one branch of scientific discovery, it is the combination of many, many fields all coalescing to form an irrefutable and irresistible picture of a world rapidly changing due to our actions.

    Big business immediately refutes all claims and accuses the scientists of a grand conspiracy. Any steps taken to support the case are shouted down as alarmist. Those who support the facts are accused of wanting to destroy the economy and plunge us back into the dark ages,. Any efforts to mitigate the damage is damaging to business, profits and jobs. Any policies or action taken to prevent a worsening is green-tape and an unnecessary hindrance to the effective function of business.

    The public experiences the changing weather patterns, the trees blooming earlier, the warmer nights, the increasing instances of droughts, bushfires, floods, they can see the oceans slowly rising, they acknowledge the breaking of more and more temperature and climate records each year – not just here but across the world, they watch their insurance bills climbing (because everybody knows how rash the insurance industry are), their kids know the truth, yet it is the adults who stand like roos in the oncoming headlights – too shocked, too fearful or possibly too stupid to act.

    What the blinded public don’t realise is, the truck bearing down mercilessly on them is being driven by their very own government and it is about to brutally mow them down along with their families and their kids, because that truck has one goal, and one goal alone – to deliver for big business, and we all know – nothing should stand in the way of big business.

    Tony the Truckie and his mates mean to make sure he delivers, even if he has to kill everyone of us to do it!

  9. RalphG

    “How is it that Climate Science is so besmirched and heavily attacked, when compared to other branches of science.”

    In the USA, evolution is constantly attacked by creationists (who make up around 40% of the US population).

  10. John Lord

    It it is extraordinary that the four business leaders the government has appointed to senior advisory roles – Dick Warburton on the inquiry into renewable energy, David Murray on the financial system inquiry, Maurice Newman to chair the PM’s Business Advisory Council, and Tony Shepherd to head the Commission of Audit – all share a strong view that the science on climate change is wrong.”

  11. RalphG

    Unfortunately John, ideology often takes precedence over facts.

  12. paul walter

    Enjoyed the Pell Quotes, they were magic…literally.

  13. Joseph Fisher

    Tony Abbott himself is a threat to our Environment he Pollutes it with the lies he keeps dishing out on a regular Basis.

  14. Terry2

    A fifth grader asked if electricity prices would drop after the removal of the carbon tax could clearly have told us , ‘of course they won’t, they’re actually going up’ : what happens to us as we get older ?

    The front page headline in yesterday’s Weekend Australian :

    ” PM cuts asylum deal with India ”

    Fact : Scott Morrison and Lt.General Angus Campbell were unable to convince Indian officials to take the 157 asylum seekers who have been held at sea for almost a month. Indian officials did agree to interview the asylum seekers and repatriate any who were Indian nationals. Indian officials would not conduct the interviews by ship to shore radio or travel to Christmas/Nauru/Manus or any other island to facilitate these interviews. Indian officials insisted that any such interviews must take place on the Australian mainland.
    Headline should have read:

    ” PM capitulates to Indian demands over asylum seekers ”

    NEWS Ltd apologizes for any confusion !

  15. Kaye Lee

    Speaking of News Ltd apologising….

    In the ruling which was made public today the APC upheld complaints over an article and editorial in The Australian over incorrect reporting on the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report published in September last year.

    The council expressed concerns over what it argues were delays in the acknowledgement of error and expressions of regret with the Council ruling: “They should have been made very much earlier, and made directly to the publication’s readers in a frank and specific manner.”

    http://mumbrella.com.au/press-council-admonishes-australian-smh-240392

    Where were we when we needed you and why is Andrew Bolt still allowed to print his denier crap?

    Larry Pickering has also been stopped from further posting on his facebook page apparently. About time.

    Excuse my cynicism in noticing this criticism all comes too late.

  16. Letitia McQuade

    Got to tell you Kay, I love your work…. you are national treasure and a personal hero… keep up the good fight…. I’m right there with you!!

  17. Keitha Granville

    it seems to me that many of those dismissing climate science may also be followers of creationism. SO there you go. God will fix it.

  18. J Marsh

    Love the comments about wind turbines being a blot on the landscape.
    What about the pylons which carry power around the country, are they beautifull?
    I think not!

  19. townsvilleblog

    The $550 explanation is just another con job, much like “interest rates will always be lower under the coalition” from little Johhny. Just confidence tricks, it seems as though Aussies have not fallen for it this time though. The LNP remain deeply unpopular throughout the country, with bot Queensland and NSW having the chance to send them a message in the coming months. The problem for Labor is that they have not reformed their branches in either State and I’m not sure that the public has confidence in the party given the ALPs history, we all know that Labor is better than the authoritarian LNP rule, but the ALP needs democratizing badly and it seems from the NSW State conference that the right wing conservative unions (awu/sda ALLIANCE) will not allow democracy to succeed.

  20. Paul Scahill

    I have no idea where you get your information from Kaye Lee but it is just so good. I must admit that some of your info is just so factual that I only wished I could retain it mentally. Most certainly many people would hear some real truths. Although I am probably biased I cannot help reading some of the bullshit that Cardinal George Pell puts out that the converted actually believe, obviously our esteemed leader is one such follower. God help our country when people like these individuals are supported by the likes of Rupert Mudrake.

  21. Kaye Lee

    Paul, my information comes from wide reading and a good memory backed up by google. This information is available to anyone with the time to look, which most people do not have. I am just collating information and passing it on with references in the hope of informing people and promoting discussion. I learn as much from you guys as you learn from me.

  22. Terry2

    Hearing that Peter Slipper has been convicted of abusing his expenses to the extent of $900 – cab charge dockets as I understand it – and will be sentenced next week I had to sort out in my own mind what was going on here and was there a double standard in operation.

    It seems that what is now known as the ‘Minchin Protocol’ was introduced into the parliament in 1998 and basically says that if you, as a parliamentarian, fiddle your expenses, intentionally or unintentionally, you can repay the money to the Department of Finance once they have brought it to your attention and there will be no more said; as was the case with Anthony Abbott who repaid $9000 as a result of this letter :

    http://www.finance.gov.au/foi/disclosure-log/2013/docs/foi-13-32-document-4A.pdf

    I make no judgements but I do, as I mentioned in relation to the Craig Thomson issue, insist that there be consistency in the application of our laws. In the Slipper case, the Department of Finance could not extend the ‘Minchin Protocol’ to Slipper as the matter had already been reported to the Federal Police as a crime. But, as far as I have been able to ascertain, the person or persons who reported this ‘crime’ have never been identified; I have a problem with that too as I would expect my accuser to be identified to me.

    I have been told that the difference between the Slipper case and the Abbott case, beyond the granting of the ‘Minchin Protocol’ to Abbott, was the intent of the parties and that Slipper evidently intended to defraud whereas Abbott had no such intent : I have a problem with that explanation as the Abbott “oversight” was never tested to determine intent at the required standard for a criminal offence : beyond a reasonable doubt.

    I see a double standard which, in one case has ruined the career and reputation of a man and may deny him his parliamentary superannuation and in the other case has allowed the man in question to pursue his career without blemish and even achieve high office.

    Perhaps I am blinkered and perhaps I don’t comprehend the meaning of the term ‘natural justice’ but I have to say I am not comfortable with the new societal paradigm that has been inflicted on us.

  23. Kaye Lee

    Terry2,

    They pinned their whole case against Slipper on the intention to mislead – that he knowingly signed cab slips asking that they show different destinations, that he intended to defraud.

    If you read about the case of Peter Reith’s $50,000 phone card bill you will find he denied all culpability, made incorrect statements, and was dragged kicking and screaming to repay the debt challenging it all the way.

    http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s197803.htm

    He was also involved in the fraudulent “children overboard” claims.

    http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/reith-rewrites-history-to-hide-the-shame-of-children-overboard-lie-20120831-255u3.html

  24. Kaye Lee

    Meanwhile, out in the real world…..

    Germany has pledged $1 billion to the UN Green Climate Fund.

    Germany’s windiest area, Schleswig-Holstein, will probably achieve “100% renewable electricity” sometime this year.

    India has doubled its coal tax and will use the money to fund renewable energy.

    Jamaica has installed the world’s largest wind-solar array.

    The UK is converting three former coal mines into solar farms.

  25. Michael Taylor

    Kaye, that’s the real world. Australia has cut itself off from it. 🙁

  26. Douglas Evans

    Noticed the exchange between Kaye Lee and Paul Scahill above on information sources. People interested in keeping up with climate change developments might like to subscribe to these daily newsletters.
    The Daily Climate – links to English language news items from around the world – http://www.dailyclimate.org/subscribe
    Climate News Network – articles on crucial climate related topics – http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/
    Renew Economy – daily newsletter featuring Australian national treasure Giles Parkinson. http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/
    Making Environmental News – an Australian newsletter put out by the Banksia Foundation daily with links to many reports (focusing on Australian media). http://www.makingenvironmentalnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=30

  27. jimhaz

    Well, I visited George’s site and emailed this. Not that it means anything, but it is nice to say what you think.

    Hi ultra boofhead with no brains and deserving only of disrespect.

    You need to refund to taxpayers the costs of your PRIVATE business at the Heartland Institute conference.

    I’m going to pester the papers about this, you abuser of taxpayers money.

  28. DanDark

    go Jimhaz Oi Oi Oi
    I am going to copy and paste your email and send it to Pell as well
    Just so he dosn’t forget we hate him, he is the most pompous pontiff the catholic church ever created 😉

  29. Wayne Turner

    These Libs are the party of NO FACTS and NO time for EXPERTS.

    ONLY THE NON-THINKING MORONS FALL FOR THESE LIBS & THEIR MSM. – SADLY THERE ARE SO MANY 🙁

    They say things,but NEVER provide PROOF for it.Their MSM report them like they are FACTS ,NEVER question them,sadly like most of the “brainwashed” non-thinking public.

    Of course people won’t be $550 better off without the “carbon price”,these Libs NEVER provided PROOF that people would be,and of course Abbott isn’t to be believed because he’s got a history of LYING & is a “self confessed liar”.

    These Libs love to use fallacies.See this link for so many examples they use.THis one often:-

    https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/appeal-to-authority

  30. diannaart

    Thank you Doug

    I already subscribe to Renew Economy – Giles Parkinson is is amazing, tireless and succinct.

    I do appreciate the link to subscribe to Banksia and have signed up.

    Cheers

  31. oldfart

    Tony’s stance on the carbon tax has always made me giggle, his word roughly were “they want to tax you on something you cant see, cant taste cant hear cant smell (CO2) and they want to tax you on that. Well Tony being a good catholic would go to church to adore something you cant see, taste,hear or smell and the church taxes him for the priviledge every time the plate goes around. So whats the difference apart from a mountain of evidence for climate change and nothing compelling for the other, apart from “faith”

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