You don’t build trust by telling lies
In an address to the National Press Club in November 2015, the ever-cocky Greg Hunt informed us that Australia had already met its 2020 target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by five per cent from 2000 levels.
“Critics have claimed time and time again that we would not achieve our 2020 target … Today, I can advise formally that the critics are wrong.”
Yet the Greenhouse Gas Inventory released on Friday paints a very different picture.
It shows that “Australia’s emissions for the year to March 2018 were 1.9 per cent below emissions in 2000.” That is a long way from the 5% reduction we committed to.
It also shows that “Emissions for the year to March 2018 increased 1.3 per cent” continuing the rising trend ever since they dumped carbon pricing.
Scott Morrison has recently assured us that Australia would meet its 26-percent emissions reduction target by 2030 “in a canter“. He is offering absolutely no proof of how and no policy to achieve it. Apparently, it will just happen of its own accord due to “improved technology.”
The only area where emissions are falling is the energy sector due to the influx of renewables prompted by the Renewable Energy Target. But, as with carbon pricing, the government will abandon this policy even though it has been shown to promote investment and actually achieve reduction.
The measure of our current emissions is extremely dubious as we are claiming significant reductions from a decrease in land-clearing, or should I say, we are claiming reductions for not clearing land that we maybe might have perhaps kinda could have cleared.
It is unconscionable that our politicians continue to lie about the real state of our emissions and our blatant failure to achieve even the paltry commitments we made to reduce them.
You say you are on our side Scott, but your misrepresentations show you have scant regard for our well-being or our intelligence.
If you want to rebuild trust, start by telling the truth.
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21 comments
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iggy648
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Kaye Lee
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David Evans
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Keith
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pierre wilkinson
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pierre wilkinson
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guest
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Kaye Lee
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SteveFitz
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Kaye Lee
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Stephen Tardrew
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Diannaart
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John lord
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paul walter
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eefteeuu
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New England Cocky
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helvityni
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Kaye Lee
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Diannaart
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Kaye Lee
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Andreas Bimba
Return to home pageI do expect that they will achieve 1 million jobs created in September.
Yes, the jobs figures are another example of not being entirely honest. According to the ABS, in August 2013, there were 706,100 people unemployed. In August 2018, there were 711,900 unemployed. And that does not account for the underemployed. I would add that the government had nothing to do with job creation – they actually sacked an enormous number of public servants and defunded many NGOs not to mention destroying car manufacturing and causing uncertainty for renewable industry investment. They are also fudging the participation rate because they have not adjusted the working age population as the retirement age has been increasing towards 67 – they still use 15 to 64. They tell us that, over the last year, the labour force (15-64) increased by 293,800 persons. Creating 200,000 jobs a year doesn’t keep up with population growth.
Hey look! Its the Prime Muppet with the World famous, but useless, greg hunt, the Wikipedia man! The “Worlds Best Environment Minister”, the 25 Star General Tosser of abbotts failed “Direct Action” plan, the Almighty Designer Of “The Carbon Tax Repeal” fiasco, the photo-op pose specialist, the idiot that still owes every Australian household an apology, and $550,……The flog who is now Health Minister? God help us!
I have found that it is continually the case of whatever the LNP state it needs to be very closely checked.
When they are caught out they level blame the person who has debunked them eg Emma Alberici.
Liberal default position #1: reiterate how successful they are at whatever enterprise they are discussing
Liberal default position #2: blame Labor if anything goes wrong
David Evans:
Greg Hunt also gave new meaning to the concept of rhyming slang.
Keith,
checking facts seems to be a wise thing to do. One wonders why fact checking was sidelined at the ABC. And the attack on Emma Alberici arose because it seems to have upset the PM at the time – and his right-wing associates.
As pierre wilkinson points out, blaming Labor is the default position. All week I have been pondering a letter from a correspondent to last week’s WE Australian who claims to be also a regular watcher of the ABC. The correspondent claims to be able to tune out whenever the ‘lefties get a bit over the top’. He has learnt how to ‘filter out the left-green biased reporting’. One imagines he is often filtering out anything which is critical in any way of things Coalition.
He gives the examples of Andrew Probyn who had called the loss of Morrison’s pick in the Wentworth by-election as a “humiliating defeat” and later went on to mention Rudd’s apology and how Swan and Rudd saved Australia from the effects of the 2008 GFC.
“It was jaw dropping stuff”, the correspondent claims. “There was no mention of the billions of dollars that Swan and Rudd squandered during this mishandled and mismanaged process that also cost the lives of young Australian men in botched job creation schemes.”
This, after a decade, is still the kind of blaming-of-Labor-for-everything we get from the Coalition, Murdoch media and its adherents. No mention of the success of Labor’s action widely praised overseas, nor of the million homes insulated.But critics mention fires and work place deaths as if they happened nowhere else or at any other time. We know that of the four deaths which sadly occurred during the pink batts project, two young people died of heat exhaustion, one was electrocuted because of a fault by another electrician and another was electrocuted while using a stapler after staplers had been banned. Who was supervising?
It is interesting that Probyn is accused by the correspondent of having ‘an attitude problem with his reporting style’ – the very thing which which the correspondent demonstrates in his own correspondence.
Twelve refugees and asylum seekers have died while in Australian immigration detention on Manus Island and Nauru.
Australia spent $320,000 fighting requests for urgent medical transfers of asylum seekers.
Kaye Lee – I don’t think you can expect too much truth coming out of this government. So, what have we got – Possibly the most corrupt federal government Australia has ever had the displeasure to witnessed: –
The Liberal Party opposing a national corruption watchdog, corporate corruption proven in the Fair Work Commission, opposing a banking royal commission, cutting funding to the white-collar crime policing authorities ACIC, ACCC and the tax office, Coalition have cut 3900 employees from corporate regulators, cutting funding and pushing to privatise the ABC, trying to censor the ABC, 4.4 billion grant to private and religious education and then play the religious card to pick up votes, $444 million grant to Liberal Party cronies, Turnbull announces million for bank regulators to blunt Labours push for a banking Royal Commission, the Turnbull Foundation to avoid paying tax, full support for the fossil fuel industry and ignoring climate change action…
I can’t go on I’m going to vomit – Our elected representatives don’t do these things of their own volition although clearly, some of them jump at the opportunity to betray the electorate. This is driven by the ravages of corporate greed to rape pillage and plunder Australian society. Our government is supposed to protect us, from this abuse, not walk hand in hand with those same corrupt corporations.
With this government it feels like “them and us”. The government against the people…
Steve,
They don’t seem to understand our need for the truth. Our trust led to apathy. Our apathy led to corruption. Their corruption led to our utter disdain.
We must have honest, transparent and accountable government.
I always said to my kids, tell me the truth and we can deal with anything together. Lie and I can’t help you – you are on your own.
Kaye Lee hits the nail on the head. These liars have no idea what morality and honesty is. How can we, in any moral sense, elect such duplicitous cowards? You who vote L-NP need to have a damn good look at yourselves.
Barrie Cassidy: Four of the five most recent government appointments to the ABC board were made directly by the Communications Minister.
For the entire time I was writing for this blog I said that Hunt was the second worst liar for the government behind Abbott. It’s no different now..
They are our version of Trumpism, which is to say arrogance.
The events of the last month here parallel the farce that is Kavanaugh in the US.
You can trust a thief, but you can never trust a liar.
@SteveFitz and Kaye Lee et al: The Liarbral Party is so named because the membership could not lie straight in bed.
@eefteeuu: I have found that thieves are usually liars by necessity, and liars are usually thieves by inclination. I try to only do business wiht honest persons to avoid these problems. Both thieves and lairs cost you money and cause you grief from hard experience.
But who elected these candidates to public office???? How are we going to rectify the horrendous policies they have inflicted on refugees and their complete disregard for the fundamentals of good business practice??? Uhm ……. vote them out of office, perhaps????
@John Lord: When will we see another of your literary gems? Your incisive, objective analysis of the on-going saga of misgovernment by the inept for the benefit of the greedy and unprincipled ….. soon I trust.
New England Cocky, I too miss John Lord’s daily posts; the wisdom of his Thoughts of the Day…
Come back John…! You have been missed….
Perhaps the biggest lie being told is the emissions reduction being claimed for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) where they claim emissions have decreased by the largest margin of any sector since 1990 (114.9 per cent).
Yet when you look further into the report, it says:
“Processed satellite images are not yet available to support the calculation of emissions estimates for 2017 and 2018. Therefore, these preliminary estimates are subject to change and have a greater level of uncertainty than the other sectors in the national inventory.”
How can that possibly be?
I suspect it is because they KNOW that the images would put paid to the lie that land clearing is reducing as the following article points out in alarming detail.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/05/global-deforestation-hotspot-3m-hectares-of-australian-forest-to-be-lost-in-15-years
In 2015, WWF analysis concluded that more than 80% of deforestation between now and 2030 – up to 170 million hectares in total – is expected to take place in 11 deforestation ‘fronts’. One of these is Eastern Australia, which ranks alongside the Amazon, Borneo, Congo Basin and other threatened tropical regions for the extent of forest at risk.
Kaye Lee
I suggest lies about anthropogenic climate change have surpassed those about the health risks of tobacco.
Josh and Scoff keep telling us that per capita emissions are at their lowest for ages…..
Meanwhile, over the year to March 2018……
Fugitive emissions increased by 12.9 per cent. This was driven by an increase of 18.7 per cent in natural gas production, which was partially offset by a 3.8 per cent annual decrease in coal production.
Stationary energy excluding electricity includes emissions from direct combustion of fuels predominantly from the manufacturing, mining, residential and commercial sectors. The mining sector includes petroleum, coal, crude oil, and gas. Emissions from this sector increased by 4.6 per cent.
Emissions from energy industries excluding electricity increased emissions by 2.8 Mt CO2-e. This was driven primarily by an increase of 25.4 per cent in LNG exports in 2018. Domestic gas sales decreased 9.7 per cent in 2017 and partially offset LNG growth, but is forecast to grow 8.7 per cent in 2018
Emissions from transport increased by 2.1 per cent.
Trend emissions for industrial processes and product use increased by 3.2 per cent. The annual increase was due to increasing iron and steel production of 2.2 per cent, and a 5.5 per cent increase in emissions from products used as substitutes for ozone depleting substances.
Emissions from Agriculture have increased by 2.1 per cent. This is influenced by increases in emissions from enteric fermentation, which is driven by an increasing beef cattle population.
Emissions from waste increased 0.6 per cent due to an increase in emissions from solid waste disposal of 7.5 per cent, reflecting lower rates of methane capture at landfills.
Kaye all your articles and comments are spot on and backed by evidence.
Citizens taking the inititiative and installing solar PV panels and the states initiating the construction of renewable energy projects as well as general de-industrialisation are reducing our greenhouse gas emissions. We can thank the appalling Liberal National Coalition only for the latter but they claim credit for other people’s efforts while advancing the cause of the coal lobby.
Only the ignorant, stupid or bigoted vote for this Coalition government.