Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Seems complete overkill that the police were called to confront a peaceful group of young teenage high school students.
Young climate change protesters denied entry to Bill Shorten’s electorate office in Melbourne
ABC Radio Adelaide By Malcolm Sutton
A group of school students preparing for a nationwide strike over climate change inaction have prompted the closure of Bill Shorten’s electorate office, on the advice of federal police.
About 20 students from the Victorian town of Castlemaine travelled to the Opposition Leader’s Maribyrnong office on Thursday but were denied entry by security officers, who also requested the help of Victorian Police.
The young activists have been striking from school at least once a week throughout November to call for significant political action to address climate change.
…
The students arrived after the earlier group had dispersed, at which point police returned.
“We tried to talk to Bill Shorten and we went up to his office and straight away they kicked us out and wouldn’t let us through the doors,” Year 9 student Tully Boyle said.
“We even called their Canberra office and there was a young man who picked up the phone and had a little chat but didn’t say we could have a talk with anyone.”
A spokesman for Mr Shorten said the office had not been advised about the students’ visit and said it would be “happy to arrange a meeting in the future”.
“The office was temporarily closed on the advice of the Australian Federal Police,” he said.
“Bill was in Sydney launching Labor’s plan for more renewable energy and cheaper power. Bill takes climate change seriously.”
…
I wish the parents would tell those kids to go back to school, but what a delicious collision of left wing values.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten desperately wants to woo the green vote, without upsetting his image as a moderate.
So what exactly should Bill say to the kids?
If he tells them to go back to school, expressing concern about their future education, he will look like a heartless conformist crushing the first hesitant steps of young climate activists expressing their legitimate concern that their world is about to end.
If Bill says anything to suggest he supports the school strike, he’ll be pilloried as a radical anti-education zealot, encouraging students to stop attending school and risk blighting their future career options with bad grades. He’ll be politically beaten up every time the issue of falling child literacy rates is raised in parliament or by the media.
If Bill tries to seem non-committal, it will look like he doesn’t care.
The only solution which shows any promise is to hide whenever the kids show up, to prevent a meeting from occurring, at least until after the next Federal election.
Here’s a radical idea: he could try telling them the truth.
He could explain to the kids that rising CO2 levels are tremendously beneficial for both agriculture and natural ecosystems, and he could tell then that at least 15% (probably about 20%) of current agricultural production, worldwide, is directly attributable to the benefits of “CO2 fertilization,” due to the approximately 45% increase in atmospheric CO2 level (from about 280 ppmv to about 408 ppmv).
He could tell them that the benefits if elevated CO2 levels for agriculture have been known to science for more than a century, and he could show them this 1920 Scientific American article to prove it:
http://sealevel.info/1920sciamCO2
He could tell them that SciAm called anthropogenic CO2 “the precious air fertilizer,” and from the photographs that accompanied their article you can certainly see why.
He could refer them to the CO2 Coalition and CO2 Science web sites, for more details, including references to thousands of peer-reviewed scientific papers, about the benefits of CO2 for just about every significant cro:
http://co2coalition.org/
http://co2science.org/data/plant_growth/plantgrowth.php
He could tell them that, historically, famines have been one of the great scourges of mankind, but that, in part because of today’s higher atmospheric CO2 levels, famines are increasingly rare.
He could tell them about one of the fathers of modern climatology, the great Swedish scientist, Svante Arrhenius, who was the first person to quantify the warming effect of mankind’s CO2 emissions, and who correctly predicted that it would benefit agriculture, and who even predicted what is now called “polar amplification.”
He could refer them to some trustworthy resources to learn the facts about climate change, like these…
Introductions:
1. http://ClimateCurious.com
2. http://prageru.com/playlists/what-science-reveals-about-climate-change
An in-depth, balanced debate, between leading experts on both sides:
3. http://thebestschools.org/special/karoly-happer-dialogue-global-warming
This amicus brief in the Calif v. BP lawsuit, by three top scientists:
4. http://co2coalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Happer-Koonin-Lindzen.pdf
Physics:
5. https://sealevel.info/Happer_UNC_2014-09-08/
6. https://sealevel.info/Happer_UNC_2014-09-08/2012_Wilson_AJP-simple_model_CO2_greenhouse_effect.pdf
7. https://geosci.uchicago.edu/~rtp1/papers/PhysTodayRT2011.pdf (and discussion)
Hurricanes & tropical cyclones (not worsening):
8.
9.
10.
Tornadoes (not worsening):
11.
Sea-level (not accelerating):
12. https://sealevel.info
Benefits of CO2 for deserts & natural ecosystems:
13. http://sealevel.info/greening_earth_spatial_patterns_Myneni.html
Dave
Bill Shorten could not lie straight in bed. He is the ultimate political chameleon saying whatever it takes to whatever audience he is talking to at the time. He is for coal mining continuing when talking to coal workers and anti when talking to Greens. He is an idiot. Unfortunately he will be our Prime Minister after the next election because the current lot in power haven’t the balls to call the climate scam for what it is and too many Aussies are so disgusted with our politicians in general , we turn them all off and try to ignore them.
Bill certainly isn’t interested in facts and our school children are so indoctrinated that they have no idea what is really happening and parents are too stupid, lazy or scared to call out the teachers. Australia was once a lovely country , now heading for serious problems especially when the lights go out.
It would not matter what he told them, Victorian school kids, indeed all Australian school kids have been green leftist indoctrination for the last 20 or more years – it’s the lefts idea of the alternative to a Christian society = Gaia worship! And Victorians just voted for another 4 years of same left socialist CAGW rubbish!! And the wishy washy Libs couldn’t even challenge them when they gave them a gift of $15 Billion of AA batteries!
I really do wonder if Australia will be livable in 10 years 🙁 🙁
Australian politicians are not destroying Australia’s economy and its citizen’s lives fast enough with windmills and solar, according to brainwashed Australian high school students.
It’s not nice to scare the poor children with climate change science fiction. It makes them do ignorant things like this.
Scare, more like inculcate. These are somebody’s unwitting and willing pawns for the cause.
its a long walk or bike ride from Castlemaine to melb, i DO hope thats how these brainwashed twits got there?
being so worried re fossil fuels n all.
and they turned of all home heating etc this week to feel how nice 12c days without fossil fuels providing warmth is too.
listening to pre election Vic campaigns i couldnt tell who was who as they all sounded like the most rabid of the greens vying to throw debt bribes to the populace madly and grandiose clims for RET scam and solar panel n battery bribes yet again.
i managed to find a sane independent to vote for.
That these kids come from Castlemaine is little surprise, unfortunately if they’ve grown up and been “educated” in our now Green/Left dominated town they likely have been brainwashed from the cradle.
A typical piece of Castlemaine street art, this poster from c.2014 – When indoctrination replaces education:
http://tinypic.com/r/24d1ma9/9
Very interesting. I have something similar and will try to find a way to post it. It was by a student in Ethiopia IIRC.
I thought Castlemaine was famous for just one thing, its inability to spell beer. Castlemaine XXXX is somewhat infamous.
well sort of, Castlemaine in vic named for- but brewed and drunk mainly in qld
Castlemaine XXXX
X X X X is a brand of Australian beer brewed in Milton, Brisbane by Queensland brewers Castlemaine Perkins. It enjoys wide popularity in the state of Queensland, where it is commonly found on-tap in pubs and bars. The XXXX brand was first introduced in 1924 and is a throwback to the long-standing tradition of using Xs to indicate the strength of an ale.More at Wikipedia
Let them strike. I sounds like school has been pretty worthless for them so far.
it is nice to know that Australia’s politicians are every bit as venal and evasive as ours in the US.
He has set himself up in a lose-lose-lose situation, though, as the only way a SJW can avoid conflicting goals is to avoid talking about them.
Have a listen to a radio interview with one of the kids …
https://omny.fm/shows/drive-with-tom-elliott/playlists/podcast/embed?style=artwork
“11-year-old explains why he took the day off school to protest climate change policy” on Nov 22
as if his rationale wasnt flimsy enough, listen to his mother’s.
enjoy
O.P. doesn’t give ages for those students. For my part I do not think adults should base behavior on what even teenagers propose – except for things like providing protection & sustanence.
Teenagers,which presumably are the strike core, are able to think about things in a hypothetical manner; such as climate. Their limited usefulness in formulating anything specific is not germaine because their brain frontal lobe is still undergoing changes & that part of the brain is where things like judgement & planning are processed.
Nowadays, more so than before, teenagers are challenged neuro-physiologically; this is because of ubiquitous visual fixtion with electronic screen devices. When a teenager focuse visually on something their brain response is activation of their brain amygdala.
The amygdala is creating an emotional context for what they see/saw. Thus, images of dire proport (ex: struggling polar bears, smokestack steam clouds, innundated coastal cities, parched soils, etc) elicit them to act out of emotion more so than an adult.
Adult brains work more co-ordinatedly, when we visually engage something it is the pre-frontal cortex (not amygdala) that activates in our brains. With this said, the developed world univesity students now have grown up with their visual focus on electronic devices & I propose that these university students have been operantly conditioned to respond with their amygdala (emotionally, as a generalization). Thus the hyper-sensitivity of so many young people & the jump in universities offering “trigger warnings, word taboos & even the ridiculous suggestion capitalization is to be avoided.
From memory ages ranged from 11 to 21 IIRC. There are younger “activists” who worry about climate change, some as young as 6. IMO adults engaged in “educating” kids as young as 6 to worry about climate change are guilty of child abuse.
they’ve no skin in the game beyond the abstraction of ‘future’, a vague concept at best..
I’ve been discussing the ideology of democracy with folk lately and the original principle that only those with an investment in the nation could vote – the likes of soldiers who’d fought, landowners who owned property.. people who’d served the nation – that sort of thing, as opposed to the merchants who’s alliances lay closer to their pockets and who like the majority of the population had little to loose by abandoning their residences and moving elsewhere if the mood took them.
It usually leaves people a little stumped contemplating this.
Here in Oz our Labor party won a vote years back when they coupled lowering the drinking age to lowering the voting age – there was no concern for the country in doing this, but it gave them access to the votes of thousands of un-invested young folk. They know all they have to do to win is offer up a present to the crowd.. NBN, free insulation, now it’s batteries .. never mind the cost to the country – it’s like they have no skin in the game. But when confronted with something like a gaggle of school kids outside the controlled environment of their own making they’re stuffed – they have to walk a tightrope and without their media advisors, script writers, Trusted Experts and glossy brochures they risk making themselves look like twats (well, bigger versions)
Yes, Bill will look heartless if he ignores the kids but like the parachuted-in former media or sport identities turned politicians the party has fielded in the past, the kids are only of use for one thing – obtaining the winning vote(s) for the Labor Elite.. actually having to talk to them is not something they ever want to do, so until Bill can craft a controlled meeting where he can woo the little blighters, they’ll just have to wait outside with the rest of us plebs.
I wonder, it’ll not happen in my lifetime, but I still wonder what a return to the principles of ancient democracy would do for the well being of the country if those who have something to loose, who fought and bled, who served were the ones making the decisions as opposed to folks with no clue and who are motivated by emotions.
no need to point out the shortfalls of this, I’m well aware of the pros and cons of both our current free-for-all system Vs the old one, but one thing that always stands out is, those folk who REALLY wanted a vote had a pathway to a vote – serve the damned country – if they were prepared to do public service or join the military, the vote was there for them, their opinions could be heard and they’d have a greater awareness of the way things work and be in a position to comprehend the consequences than folk who’s interests didn’t extend beyond eating, drinking and procreating.
Starship Troopers. (Want to know more?)
I think if Shorten had me as an advisor, he would say this:
“I am so encouraged that young children in this country are passionate about the big issues. Those who believe in climate change action should not only act, as they are doing now, but they should continue to act as long and as far as their consciences take them. Even if it means being a little behind in their schoolwork. Even if it means that they have to repeat an entire year. That is courage, and I am honoured to call them my fellow citizens.”
Striking is only an effective protest when it hurts someone else (preferably the entity being protested against). Why should a government care that a few more kids are bunking off school?
Can’t parents be charged for allowing their children to skip school? School attendance laws don’t matter anymore?
Not if they are encouraged and supported by their leftist teachers!
Presumably they will still need to be picked up by their parents after their “strike” is completed?
They should be made to walk home instead, to teach them a real lesson about the value of fossil fuels.
“The only solution which shows any promise is to hide whenever the kids show up, to prevent a meeting from occurring, at least until after the next Federal election.”
Major Major would approve.
“Major Major: Sergeant, from now on, I don’t want anyone to come in and see me while I’m in my office. Is that clear?
Sgt. Towser: Yes, sir. What do I say to people who want to come in and see you while you’re in your office?
Major Major: Tell them I’m in and ask them to wait.
Sgt. Towser: For how long?
Major Major: Until I’ve left.
Sgt. Towser: And then what do I do with them?
Major Major: I don’t care.”
He could meet with them on a Saturday, when their not required to be in school. And the children would learn that on a weekend, government offices are as barren as the Gobi desert.
In recent times, the Victorian government has implemented the practice of charging the victims of criminal activity for police “protection”.
For example, Milo, Lauren Southern and Stephan Molyneux were each sent a bill of around $90,000(?) for police “protection” at their respective speeches which were disrupted by the usual suspects. Ie: the victims were billed and the perpetrators were let off.
So, I wonder if the extortionists in uniform will be sending Billl Shorten a bill for their “services”.
I don’t think many people would recognise “Green Left leader” as a descriptor of Bill Shorten.
Thats ‘our ABC’.
Agree Nick Stokes. Malignant stupid fool is a better descriptor of BS in my view. A measure of the man is the way he and his now wife cheated on their former partners. Both low lives lacking in morals in my view. therefore well qualified to be a politician.
yeah i also thought the header was outta whack
that said theres ittle between them(3) lib lab n green in victoria
all got the same hymn book recently
Mr Stokes is absolutely correct.
The Australian Labor Party is ‘left’ in the same sense that the index finger on your right hand is left of the middle finger (palm down). It’s still on the right hand and there’s not much of a gap. The acknowledged leader of the ALP ‘Left’ faction is one Anthony Albanese. (He’d probably be the right thumb.) There is little love between him and Mr Shorten.
The ALP swung radically to the Right in the early 1980s under that great ‘Socialist’, Bob Hawke. They try to maintain some credibility with lefties by advocating the occasional pension increase or standing up for gay rights. On major policy issues there’s not a lot between them and the current (Liberal) government.
At elections, the choice is between the Right and the not-quite-so-Right. This lack of meaningful choice may go some way towards explaining the recent increased representation of Independents and smaller parties in the Senate.
For anyone’s information : Students at secondary schools in Victoria, although not formally closed, have already started their Summer break holidays. They will not be resuming classes until the end of January.
So they are not “on strike” in any sense that it is normally used.
But the Castlemaine region of Victoria, is a favored place for hippies and alternative type folks to settle. So it is no surprise to hear that teenagers from this area are doing this.
I guess that just got back on the bus and went home afterwards…Castlemaine is about 90 ks. Nor/Nor West from Melbourne.
Castlemaine has a train mate.
Not coal powered as in, having a boiler and a firebox, but coal powered like a Tesla
Not coal powered but Diesel powered I think you’ll find:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V/Line_VLocity
“The choice between environmental protection and a strong economy is not an either-or proposition. We can have both.”
Rachel Jones
They are being encouraged by their teachers. Tony Thomas has been following this brainwashing for some time, here is his latest:
https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/why-our-schools-produce-brainwashed-dolts/
Do you recall a few years ago those that were shouting global warming was dead? How about those saying the same thing now? And, today, we find politicians cowering in hidey places to avoid kiddies? Over indeed.
Ahh, a “morally righteous” excuse to skip school – the perfect confluence of leftist values is right. Reminds me of the hale young man I met begging on the streets of Vancouver back in the ’90s. When asked why he was begging, the reply was “what, you want me to work for The Man?”
What I want for him isn’t printable here – him and ALL his ilk, the witless bozo.
So, let me get this straight, this kids are skipping out on school and police did not cite their parents for this? I thought Australia had very strict school attendance laws/ordinances. Although, if this is an indication of what “education” they are receiving it would likely be better they are not in school at all. Are there no mines or labor houses in which they could do something useful with their time in? 😉
Unless students can pass a legitimate statistics major math test at the Ph.D. level, tell them to go fly a kite. Otherwise they don’t know sikkim from… Hell, even I don’t know much more than a stats class at the masters level.
Just need to give more encouragement to these kids. Let them know that if they are true believers, they should refuse to use all fossil-fuel based transport. Reject all power derived from the use of fossil fuels. Refuse to purchase any product made or transported by the use of fossil fuels.
And they should protest any teacher, administrator, or parent who does not do likewise.
They should also refuse to walk on tarmac or concrete roads or sidewalks, too, as those are the product of fossil fuels.
And put down their smart phones, disconnect from wi-fi and the internet.
“The young activists have been striking from school at least once a week throughout November to call for significant political action to address climate change.”
Maybe police thought of ‘Gilets jaunes’ after repeated calls from Opposition Leader’s Maribyrnong office.
Maybe police should have taken these “children” into protective custody and then arrested for allowing them to blow off going to school.