Guest essay by Eric Worrall
After snatching defeat from the jaws of victory with unaffordably extreme climate policies, a leading Aussie opposition politician has shocked colleagues by suggesting they ditch their current position, and copy the winning party’s far less ambitious climate policies.
Labor MPs condemn suggestion they adopt Coalition climate change policy
Joel Fitzgibbon’s climate change ‘settlement’ is rejected but Labor will allow the government’s ‘big stick’ energy policy to passKatharine Murphy Political editor
Mon 14 Oct 2019 20.15 AEDTJoel Fitzgibbon has copped a blast in the left and right caucus meetings for declaring Labor should adopt the Coalition’s Paris emissions reduction target rather than pursue ambitious cuts to carbon pollution.
The internal unrest came as the shadow cabinet was expected to sign off on Monday night on a shift in Labor’s attitude to the controversial “big stick” policy of the Morrison government.Labor opposed the government’s policy in the last parliament to create a “big stick” power breaking up big energy companies if they engaged in price gouging. But it is now, assuming shadow cabinet and caucus approval, expected to allow the legislation to pass, having received assurances it will not be used as a backdoor means of privatising state-owned assets.
Fitzgibbon, the shadow resources minister, who suffered a significant swing against him in his coalmining seat in the Hunter Valley in the May election, used a speech to the Sydney Institute last week to argue the ALP should offer “a political and policy settlement” on climate policy “to make 28% the target by 2030”.
The unanticipated foray from the senior New South Wales rightwinger prompted internal uproar, and the shadow climate change minister, Mark Butler, promptly declared Labor would not adopt Tony Abbott’s suboptimal target.
…
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/oct/14/labor-mps-condemn-suggestion-they-adopt-coalition-climate-change-policy
Joel Fitzgibbon was attacked by many of his colleagues – but not all. The shadow prime minister was careful to avoid direct criticism of one of his key supporters.
Throwing traditional Labor voters under the bus in their endeavours to hold a clutch of gentrified inner city seats that are under threat from the trendy bourgeois party, the Greens.
Sad.
And the Labor pollies don’t realize that when they bang on about “targets”, that’s exactly what they’re making themselves to the voters.
Joel Fitzgibbon represents a traditional coal mining area which used to vote strongly for the Labour Party. He got a flogging at the last election as voters realised that the strong anti-coal policy would cost their jobs. It was the same in Queensland where strong mining areas, some previously safe Labour seats, turned to the Liberal-National coalition.
Before the election the left-leaning media, especially the ABC, touted it as the climate change election, because they expected Labour to win and to bring in some extreme policies. Ater the election which told politicians exactly what the people think about climate change, they back-pedalled on that.
The Labour Party has to work out whether it supports the working class or the inner suburban elites. They don’t seem to have addressed that.
It was all very personal to him, he suffered 9% swing against him in the election in a supposedly safe labor seat (he got the safe seat because he is a powerbroker in the party for the ALP’s Centre Unity faction).
I think you will find the swing was greater than 9% if you check the ABC’s election result website. It would seem that he only won his seat as a result of the drift of One Nation or National Party preferences.
And in addition to this post;
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/albanese-stalls-on-making-climate-commitment-as-party-moves-on-climate-emergency-20191015-p530zh.html
So much time and effort is being wasted on this boondoggle “emergency” while 160,000 FAMILIES are homeless in “rich” Australia.
That is because their homes have been taken by migrants & refugees.
And that is total bullshit Has been.
well where DID and ARE the 80k or so per yr immigrants and illegals being housed then?
cos we sure are NOT building a medium sized town per yr able to hold them
they ARE taking the cheaper homes and flats etc that the poor once managed to live in
that said the govt wrecking public housing for a fast cash topup to cover the bedgetary screwups and spending on dud crap like solar n turbines helped stuff the budgets
so the poor pay 3x over
no housing no jobs and even if they can find a scummy flat they cant afford the bloody power n water supply either
We have a national election here in Canada in a few days with the probability of a coalition result, (flip a coin to guess what combo), so it will be interesting to see how the taste of the koolade being peddled by the (mostly) warmist compliant media will affect the results.
Fitzgibbon, where is Dan Cody?
There is currently a push for the ALP and the Greens to declare a “Climate Emergency” as reported by Andrew Bolt.
https://www.skynews.com.au/details/_6094887839001
Fortunately the attempt failed – defeated by the Morrison Govt in the Senate. Excellent!
Didn’t they go through this already? Kev Krudd, Julia Gillard?
Been there, done that?
Worked out terribly, but it is going to work now?
Following the surpriseelection outcome, further damage has been done to “The Cause” in Australia, by the Extinction Rebellion phenomenon which blocked city streets, and interfered with cars and pedestrians trying to get to work. Normal people could not see any sense in the ludicrous antics of the ‘Climate Change’ adherents and just wished that they would go back to school or go out and get a job. The Climate Faction is doing a lot of good work by shooting itself in the foot or in fact, both feet.
Yes it is amazing how badly they have misread what the reaction would be. Not only is the message not cutting thru but they are hardening resistance from those in the centre and alienate folks on the right.
I posted in another thread but worth posting again.
One man’s opinion about XR…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Yh2Xp6tvZA
He sums them up pretty well IMO.
I discussed it briefly at work the other day. Previously when I had brought up skepticism of the CAGW view, I was generally met with disbelief that anyone could hold such a silly view (except for our semi-retired technical lead, who is smart enough to know better). This time, there was quiet nodding and enthusiastic agreement from my boss (the CEO).
The Climate Mongo’s of XR are having a sizable effect, just not the one they expected. Which makes sense as they aren’t too good at analysing the probable effects of their actions.
And morons, like Mr. Broccoli in London, are becoming the face of ER.
Sadly, it will not be possible for rational thought to survive for long in the context of an irrational fear of the consequences of the industrial revolution which has served as the fountain of irrational environmental fearology of the farangs since the industrial revolution and still does more than 5 generations later.
https://tambonthongchai.com/2019/10/14/racism/
Typical the cure is worse than the concocted disease and everyone is starting to realize it.
The writer here, Katharine Murphy — Political Editor, gives away her science ignorance when she uses the term “carbon pollution.”
And then her use of “suboptimal target” nonsense is further evidence that the entire Aussie Left wing is clueless how little Australia’s entire CO2 emissions matter in the global emissions growth over the next 30 years.
There are people in Australia who still claim CO2 concentration is much much higher than ~413ppm/v (Even when posting links to NASA data), is choking breathable air (Yes, really!) and is not required by plants even though the chemical equation for photosynthesis is given.
There’s no fixing stupid.
The voters simply must vote them out of office.
Not surprised at all. Similarly to other religious sects, where they 100% certain that the Earth is no more that 6kYear old. You can mention carbon dating and all sort of things: Oh that is just some trick placed by God.
World has big government problem . Lobbyists are greedy: they want more subsidies, entitlements, government spending and regulations that end up to their pockets. Propaganda driven sheeple are deceived to support politicians that promise easy solutions, free stuff and punish more successful people.
Green populism results in financial crises when governments spend over their means. Totalitarian rule is the next step before popular uprising.
“Totalitarian rule is the next step before popular uprising.”
One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes a revolution in order to establish a dictatorship.
— George Orwell
Modern examples to wit: Venezuela, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Mao’s Cultural revolution, the Kim’s NorK, ….
The dictatorship will do everything it can to crush a democratic inspired rebellion in order to survive. Mass murdering its own people included. Machiavelli is as relevant today as his words in “The Prince” were 500 years ago during the Renaissance.
Machiavellian Principles are the essential guiding rules today’s Left with their climate religion propaganda in their quest for political power. If they are ever able to achieve dominance over Western democratic institutions, they will not relinquish it without a fight reminiscent of the US Civil War or the French Revolution.
I believe my Canadian neighbors are about to punish the political left in their upcoming election. Canadians aren’t all poorer, because Justdim Trudope wore blackface … they’re all poorer because of carbon taxes. Oh … and unequal “equalization”.
I hope you’re right.
Ditto.
I’m guessing we get a Conservative minority government, because while the Conservative leader is as much of a waste of space as Trudeau, Conservative voters are more motivated to vote Trudeau out than Liberals are to vote him in.
If, God forbid, he wins, it’s well past time to start working on secession from Ottawa.
Ya know … Canada IS a big-ass country. Why … you could probably fit 12 European Countries into Alberta alone!? I see secession as thoroughly viable, if not essential for vast swaths of the Canadian prairie
There’s really no reason for Canada to exist anymore. It used to be that the West provided the resources to the East which produced stuff in factories to send to the West in return. Now the West provides the taxes which allow the East to run big deficits to pay for welfare while supporting policies that undermine the Western economy.
The sooner the West gets out, the better. A Trudeau win will just push it faster, because we’ll have to get out before he destroys our culture and economy completely.
What are those of us IN Ottawa supposed to do??? 🙂
Brings to mind the old W.C.Fields movie, “The Millionaire,” where a wealthy man who doesn’t like his family decides to give a million dollars each to strangers picked out of the phone book. In one vignette a man who has received a death sentence for bank robbery gets the check as he sits on Death Row just prior to his execution. Will our Aussie mates get the check in time to appeal this climate insanity they are being sentenced to, or will it arrive too late to keep them from decades of economic misery? It is truly terrible when pseudo-scientific religious fanatics take power anywhere. Ask the “witches” of Salem and Europe!
The virtue signalling political class has run its course. Normal people, whose prime objective is to survive, improve their situation and bring up their family in a healthy positive environment, free from chaos and fear, know, what is being presented by the likes of the Greens and the XR activists, is a false understanding of real world conditions.
The self proclaimed leaders of the mass hysteria movement, presenting themselves as saviours, are simply washed up hippies with pointless lives who want to destroy the things they can never have, because they refuse to put in the work to achieve anything,
The most disturbing thing we are seeing, is the indoctrination of children, the vile leaders of this anarchy then putting them at the sharp end of the scam designed to deconstruct stable society. In what sane social construct does a sixteen year old child with issues, get to advise anyone about anything?
You have to see this nonsense happening in front of your own eyes to understand just how manipulative evil people are, and just how vulnerable to that manipulation children and people with boring pointless lives, are.
We have arrived, here in the UK at the ludicrous position, where the Socialist Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, is criticising his own police force, the Met, who have taken the decision to ban XR demonstrations. Khan is the Mayor responsible for policing the Capital and is the man responsible for allowing knife crime to reach such a devastating position, there are more deaths from knife attacks in London this year, that there are murders in New York!!
He wants to allow XR to continue to destroy commerce in London? You have to ask the obvious question….
It’s a trap,
Every election is now a climate change election, because the progressive left will never forgo an opportunity to implement their global agenda of increasing taxes along with ever larger and more intrusive governments.
“Every election is now a climate change election”
Last night at the American Democrat presidential debate in Ohio human-caused climate change was not even mentioned. I think that shows where it stands on the priority list with the people. The politicians see it as a big issue but they know most people do not see it that way so the politicians avoid talking about it.
Seems like the biggest topic was free health care, provided for by taking money from someone else.
Joel Fitzgibbon . . . don’t believe a word of it.
False flag/double double-cross/stab in the back unrelenting march to the sworn aim of SOCIALISM.
Don’t be so sure.
Joel is one of the few pollies in the federal parliament to actually have held a job. He was a mechanic in a local auto shop.
I know him personally, and although we have very different political views, he gets the argument that renewables will devastate local jobs with higher power prices.
A journalist who talks about ‘carbon pollution’ is at best a gullible dimwit or otherwise a shill for the Big Green interest.
I have said for quite a while that eventually, politicians will read the tea leaves and get out of the thrall of the Climate scam. We have elections in Canada this WE. Let’s see if Canadians got it or if they want one more period under people that want to kick them back to the stone age. If thats what they want, we must let them have it. But Aussies have already found out the hard way that making everything expensive is not the way and they kicked some butts. And now, those butts start to mold themselves into what they believe is going to win them elections. Nothing is as predictable as a politician.
Keep them on the run.
This looks like the Australian version of the American coal-miner’s revolt in 2000 and beyond.
Most political observers of the 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore focused on the very narrow victory of Bush in Florida, that resulted in the election not being decided until after over a month of recounts and lawsuits. But there were other reasons why Gore lost behind the scenes.
Former President Bill Clinton was from Arkansas, and Gore was from Tennessee, and Clinton won both states, as well as West Virginia, in 1996 during his re-election. West Virginia, a heavy coal-mining state, voted Democrat through 1996 due to the influence of the coal miners’ unions.
Al Gore had started his global-warming hysteria in 1998, which led to him campaigning against coal mining, and in 2000, Gore surprisingly lost his home state of Tennessee and West Virginia. If he had won either of those states, Gore would have been President even while losing Florida.
After the 2008 elections, when Obama was elected President and had large Democrat majorities in Congress, he tried to pass a carbon tax (cap-and-trade on CO2) through Congress in 2010, but it did not get a majority of the votes in the Senate because Democrats from coal-producing states voted against it.
In the 2016 election, Democrat Hillary Clinton pledged to “put coal miners out of business”, while Trump pledged to exit the Paris accords and embraced the coal miners. Trump won West Virginia by a huge margin, and also managed to win Pennsylvania, another coal-producing state which has also profited from fracking for natural gas, the first time Pennsylvania has voted Republican since 1988.
Perhaps the Aussie left is learning the lessons from America from 20 years ago–if a political party tries to cut off the energy supplies to an industrialized country, and energy producers from their livelihood, they will be punished at the ballot box.
Joel Fitzgibbon, who is one of the relatively moderate Labor parliamentarians is obviously committed to the climate rubbish. I was there at the Sydney Institute that evening and asked the question-does Labor have a plan B on climate policy given the attacks on globalism from Scott Morrison, Donald Trump and Brexit. There is no Plan B was his response- Labor regard “climate change” as sacrosanct. This suggests they will not and can not go back. They will defend the position to the bitter end and beyond. Alas, I did not get the opportunity to rewatch the Foxtel coverage to extract more useful information.
If Labor do not have a plan B for when the climate caper collapses eventually, they can be goaded in to saying some pretty idiotic things and get left high and dry. This is what Donald Trump does so brilliantly to make mainstream media and the Democrats look idiotic. Lead them on, pull the rug.
Scott Morrison and the rest of the nominal Conservative party need to keep the pressure up on them with their dogged persistence on plugging climate garbage. As they doggedly refuse to ditch the policy that cost them election, they should be made to lose another election over it. Meanwhile, the youth continue to be brainwashed with climate fairy tales.
The most disturbing thing about the recent election is that 48.2% of the voters voted for the party advocating climate lunacy, and with a generation of brainwashed kids being able to vote soon, this will hit the 50%+1 sooner than we think. We will have a situation like the gay marriage plebiscite where promises for protections were made but not delivered but pertaining to declaring a “Climate Emergency.” Declaring a state of emergency entails the ability to divert all resources toward that end. In the case of climate, it is chasing rainbows. It is potentially marshal law with the troops mounted on their pink and purple Unicorns going off to battle the mythical beast of “climate change.” Throughout history, this sort on open ended battle of fighting something that cannot be fought ALWAYS ends very badly.
A sobering thought- we are starting to see animal sacrifices to the climate gods. Deliberate inaction to help farmers are resulting in the loss of core breeding stock on farms. Emissions reduction targets will apply across the board, which includes agriculture and livestock in particular. The 45% reduction in emissions that Labor and Greens want will slash agricultural output by 45% without any debate whatsoever- this is lunacy.
Remember, nearly 50% of the voters voted for this lunacy.