From Dr. Jennifer Marohasy’s Blog
Jennifer Marohasy,
After years of dithering here in Australia, we have finally chosen a government that ‘will act on climate change’. So said Penny Wong as she welcomed the new prime minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, to the stage last night. I would argue it is mass delusion to suggest that we can change the climate – but the political desire for ‘climate action’ has been gathering for perhaps four decades and last night it was realized.
It has always been about politics. Beginning back in the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher wanted to close-down the coal mines because of her increasing impatience with Arthur Scargill, then president of the National Union of Mineworkers. That was when the first absurd links were drawn between coal mining and the possibility of a climate catastrophe. She saw local advantage that was leveraged into geopolitical advantage through the Kyoto Protocol.
Postal votes have not yet been tallied in this 2022 election, but it would appear the big winners are the Teal Independents backed by billionaire climate activists Simon Homes à Court – I understand there may be 10 of these Teal Independents in the new parliament, representing Australia’s most tertiary educated and privileged who live in inner-city Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth.
These are all women. I would argue unaware of the extent to which their election will favour the fortunes of already rich white men so heavily invested in so-called renewables and carbon trading they can’t afford for it to fail. These men don’t actually produce very much, rather they mostly make their money out of corporations’ dependent on government-funded schemes, mandates and subsidies including for particular types of electricity-generating energies. For example, I know a fellow who campaigned for Allegra Spender, the daughter of fashion designer Carla Zampatti, one of the so-called Teal Independents. Spender appears to have won the inner-city Sydney-seat of Wentworth. This Wentworth resident and Spender-supporter made his money out of selling insurance, then bought property in regional New South Wales that now has a windfarm that pays him $250,000 every year in rent. He has sold all the cattle that once populated the farm because they emitted carbon. He didn’t build the wind farm, and he doesn’t sell the wind, he just gets paid for owing the land.
Previous Australian governments have included enthusiastic climate alarmists, but the difference with this new Labor government that will likely govern with the support of Homes à Court’s climate activists, is that there is theoretically no brake on them rushing to close-down all the productive industries that generate carbon emissions like cows and coal. Except, I’m not actually sure anyone will be able to make as much money out of wind farming, and trading carbon, if there is no coal to underpin it all – to leverage off.
At least two of the very high-profile Liberals beaten by the Teal Independents – Josh Frydenberg in Kooyong and Tim Wilson in Goldstein – profess to wanting to act on climate change and implement a ‘net zero’ emissions target. Indeed, there was little real difference in what Zoe Daniel (Teal Independent) versus Tim Wilson (Liberal) in Goldstein, and Josh Frydenberg (Liberal) versus Monique Ryan (Teal Independent) in Kooyong claimed to support during this last election campaign. But the Teals won perhaps because there was that much more conviction in their rhetoric.
I’ve had the opportunity over the last decade to discuss climate change with both Frydenberg and Wilson. Both are aware of the extent to which the climate emergency narrative – that well and truly underpins the election of the new Albanese government – is based on junk science, yet both have been keen to dismiss my evidence and run with the zeitgeist. It was the easy thing to do – it made political sense to them. It made political sense to Margaret Thatcher and now it underpins the wealth of so many, but is it actually sustainable going forward? What ultimately will everything be leveraged off? At what point does the house of cards topple, or will it just be the wind turbines?
Australia has well and truly caught the net zero bus.
It will be interesting to see how the new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, makes it work, given he now has a clear mandate to achieve ‘net zero’ and start closing down particular industries.
Even with these Teal candidates, and many in the media passionate about climate change and social justice, it’s a way to make money so as to not live next to the great unwashed.
Feel sorry for Jen and all the sensible members of upside down land, but it’s time for a boycott of international tourism to Oz, since CO2 is destroying all including the Great Barrier Reef.
If this government wants to walk the walk they should immediately close the GBR to the public and tourism, wiping out the country’s tourism industry.
Failure to do so just means they are the same hypocrites as all the rest.
There is no International tourism without hydrocarbons.
Remember Australia to save some for the bailout America fund when we can’t make the debt payments of meet budget obligations. Either that or learn to speak Mandarin and Russian.
A very sad place for Australia’s national interest moving forward. Has certainly come down to a ‘climate’ election & the electorates have spoken. Labour & the radical ‘green’ agenda appear to now have a mandate to ‘reset’ energy, transportation & agricultural policy based upon reduced CO2 emissions. Even as I type this NEM electricity grid is in a perilous state, a ‘Biden style’ great reset on the grid will only exacerbate this situation. A slippery slope? How will labour & the Aussie Green Reset dig it’s self out of a pending, product & food supply shortage, high inflation & interest rates, electrical grid blackouts-rationing by doubling down on the same policy that created this economic shambles? Surely the majority Australian electorate will be feeling the pain sooner than the end of labour’s 4 year term? Maybe a bit like asking the current ‘majority’ Democratic American voter how he-she-them-they feels about the current status of ‘abundance’ in the Disunited States of America
3 years maximum, actually.
Actually it wasn’t a climate election. The Labor party put forward no real policies, too afraid of the climate push back, and the Liberals said vote for us because a Labor government will be even worse than us. Neither of the major parties even pretended to have a vision for the country, and none of the minor parties had anything like a viable policy portfolio.
It’s time we had the option for “None of the above” on the ballot.
Australia = Sri Lanka
Have fun, cobbers.
One would think that the Australians would have better sense than this but I guess I give them too much credit. The only way to wake these zombies up is to stop enabling them. Renewables can not survive without good old fossil fuel or nuclear. These people are nothing but liars and cheats, they need a good lesson. If I were king of Australia I would give the country fair warning, you have thirty days to prepare for your carbon free holiday. All generating plants that aren’t wind or solar will be taken off the grid. I suggest you buy a gas or diesel generator soon because you are going to need it. Once these loony birds see the light we will restore all generation. I don’t want to hear anymore about net zero, you want renewable energy fine, you use it, as for the rest of us we will be using affordable, reliable and dispatchable energy sources.
Perhaps the reason Morrison lost the election were his obsession with brutal and useless COVID lockdowns and COVID Zero nonsense.
Wrong. The Federal government had no power over the various states who imposed the lockdowns.
The armchair experts seem to believe that the Federal Government could have used a couple of untested constitutional law levers to stop the excesses of Labor State Governments but various legally qualified people including the Assistant Attorney General (Federal) pointed out that under the circumstances that would have been divisive and a danger to the future of federalism, even if it succeeded. On the other hand private challenges, one against the WA State Government related to interstate border closure (all States followed the WA lead) and one against the VIC State Government relating to Emergency Powers legislation and lockdowns, failed and failed on appeal with judges deciding under the circumstances prevailing (pandemic) the State actions were constitutional.
Unfortunately too many Australians made the same mistake, helped along by Labor Premiers who chose to hide behind the Federal Government and Prime Minister by blaming them for State Parliament legislation for Emergency Powers resulting in lockdowns, other restrictions, mask and vaccine mandates, etc.
The Commonwealth of Australia was formed by British Colonial Governments forming the Federation of State Governments, and they established the Federal Government. The new States retained most of their colonial areas of responsibility and powers and handed only areas of national importance to all of the States to the Federal Government and foreign affairs, international borders, defence and a few others.
State Health have primary responsibility for public health and State Public Hospitals care for patients. State owns and runs schools, transport, policing, electricity and water supplies, etc.
On the Federal credit side they provided funding to deal with the national pandemic recession caused by lockdowns and restrictions, funding for employers and employees to support them and for other pandemic assistance to States. And now the national economy is growing at 3.5% of GDP, OECD forecast a week ago 4.1% growth soon. Unemployment 3.9% and the lowest since the 1970s. All Federal management and planning.
Did you say Holmes a’Court Activists when you meant Ha’Ctavists…
The Little Corporal (“Squinty”) about to take the reins promised Socialism for Corporations & Businesses as an election campaign bribe…
That’s what he meant by promising to bring industries back to Australia…It will only work if the tax-payer subsidies are big enough… And it will have to be quite substantially more than the millions used to bribe carmakers to stay…The profit-subsidy just wasnt big enough…
And failed to mention that in 1975 the Whitlam Labor Federal Government signed the UN Lima Protocol agreeing to the gradual transfer of manufacturing industry to developing nations, like China.
And around 1990 the Keating Labor Government signed the UN Agenda 21 – Sustainability covering a wide range of effectively economic vandalism that also acted as a deterrent to manufacturing in Australia.
Add to the long list the Labor industrial relations legislation Fair Work Australia circa 2010 and related anti-business clauses, productivity decline, as the Managing Director of Toyota Australia pointed out after the public announcement by Toyota, General Motors Holden and Ford in 2014 that they would leave Australia, no more vehicle production.
Where were the Unions when manufacturing industry was effectively given marching orders?
I was employed for almost 25 years by a large manufacturing business, a company reporting to a public company board in Australia. I was Managing Director for about half of that period of employment and retired of my own accord twenty years ago.
The company was profitable, according to Dunn & Bradstreet three times the industry average profit before tax consistently. During the 1990 recession profit was still about half the average of earlier years and after the recession profit returned to average. I was offered board support for a management buyout and seriously considered the offer. But my business plan warned me that manufacturing conditions were deteriorating and imports were becoming an increasing threat, and that if I had to close the factories the costs involved would be more than the after tax profits before the closure date anticipated in my business plan.
So I chose to retire eighteen months after a foreign company acquired the business despite incentives offered to remain employed.
”… given he now has a clear mandate to achieve ‘net zero’ and start closing down particular industries.”
Well not totally. Albo either has to work with the Greens or the Coalition to pass legislation in the Senate. Given the impossible demands of the Greens he may be forced to work with the Coalition. Interesting days ahead.
There is a frightening proposal with draft legislation already prepared by pale green Teal Independent Party MP Zali Steggall, revealed by Andrew Bolt on The Bolt Report, Sky News, recently.
Her legislation, and I heard other Teals speak in support of the legislation during the campaign, provides for a new Climate Office and a Climate Commissioner who would not be answerable to the Parliament and Federal Government but who could instruct Cabinet on climate related matters. Sort like our ABC Act of Parliament making ABC untouchable by a government unless the Act is changed. But of course ABC cannot dictate to government.
Some might remember when the Abbott led Coalition Government elected in September 2013 defunded the then non-government organisation (NGO) Climate Office? That was an advisory office only with no powers. But the senior executive, Tim Flannery, was a climate zealot.
The two shades of Green and Labor want Australia to become a “renewable superpower”. The darker Green want coal mining stopped as soon as it can be arranged and more economic vandalism.
Dont be too concerned about Labor’s “win”. If the Ha’Ctivists hold the balance of power Labor will be largely a lame duck government. The newbies cleared out some Coalition deadwood, and will last one term – while the Coalition gets some new blood infusions…
“Climate Change” is a proxy debate, standing in for a lot of social and economic disquiet that hasnt yet been able to express itself directly…Opinion polls are less a measure of concern about “Climate Change’ than a measure of the level o concern off quality of life issues that concern the masses…
You are right about the deadwood. The party has become full of LINOs ( Liberals in name only). The membership is so bad, many polling stations didn’t have anyone handing out how to vote cards. There is going to be a massive fight now between the moderates(bedwetters) and the centre right conservatives for control and direction of the party. Oz is now in for massive rude wakeup on monetary economic theory as inflation and interests take off on the back of a Labor Greens spendathon.
Aussie Col, my thoughts exactly.
How will they know when they’ve tackled climate? Does a ref come out and blow the whistle?
Only after the goal posts have been moved many times and the referee suspects that voters have reached the end of their tolerance.
Maybe the new government will finally answer the most important question before embarking on massive disruption of society and the economy. Since the climate is always changing, is the trend moving towards or away from the optimum for the health of the biosphere we all depend upon? To what extent is human activity helping or hindering these natural trends?
“Australia Has Finally Caught the ‘Net Zero’ Bus”
Is that like catching a tiger by the tail? Look, Ma, I caught a tiger by its tail. Uhh, now what do I do?
With approximately only a third of the primary vote, some reporting that this is the lowest primary vote for 100 years, I disagree that Labor has any form of mandate as 2/3 of Aussies did not give them the authority to act on their behalf.
mandate noun [ C usually singular ] uk / ˈmæn.deɪt / us / ˈmæn.deɪt / mandate noun [C usually singular] (AUTHORITY) the authority given to an elected group of people, such as a government, to perform an action or govern a country
Regardless, they are in a position to get what they wish for, at our expense.
Luckily, there is another election in 3 years so let’s hope they stuff up sufficently in that time for the sheeple to see the errors of their ways
Yes they did. You forget its labour plus the greens primary vote that means Labour wins the most seats ( using the preference system)
Same as the Liberals needed the rural Nationals to win previously
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
H L Mencken
“Politics is the theory where if you give the common people everything they ask for you can’t get elected again for at least a decade.”
Me
While Australia has a new Labor government federally, Queensland has a continuing State Labor Government.
Last weekend the Brisbane newspaper published a lead article,“Left out in the Coal” in which the State Energy Minister Mick de Brenni pledged to keep all coal fired generators in Queensland open.
He is due to release the State’s new Energy policy later this year.
He declared it “does not include”closing any of its publicly owned coal fired power stations.
He has now doubled down on this commitment.
He was immediately attacked by the usual suspects who pointed out that it is impossible to have Queensland achieve 50% reduction in emissions by 2030 and retain coal and gas fired plants(Australia has no nuclear power).How true.
What will happen with the Federal and State Treasurers is they will kick the can down the road on their emissions reduction targets and the abandonment of fossil fuels.
(“Never get between a politician and a bucket of money”).
This year coal exports will accrue more than $100 billion for the Australian economy.
To abandon fossil fuels will devastate that economy and household budgets,as economist Terry McCrann points out in his syndicated national column today,”Green around the gills on Labor rollercoaster.”
This issue has a long way to run.
It’s worse than QLD, add WA, SA, VIC, ACT and NT all with Labor governments.
Only TAS and NSW remain in Liberal-National Coalition hands.
I doubt that the majority of voters considered how much combined powers and influence Union controlled Labor would gain if they formed Federal Government.
Look, its all down to the Liberal party losing its conservative mojo, electors want to follow someone who is credible and has a proper long-term agenda to support their base. Morisson forgot what his side of politics was fighting for, lost the plot, wimped and sold out to the leftists at COP 26 when threatened with climate trade sanctions by the EU, UK and USA. He lost this election right then. Trying to be soft on Net Zero was seen through by the voters and media as second rate compared to the Greens and Labors real hard climate policies, better to have opposed the climate alarmists and renewable energy carpet baggers outright!
This will all come out now in the political backwash of this stodgy election, God help Australia until we get a decent opposition party to meld with the ever present mostly reliable Country party under that man with the big hat.
Jennifer you might not be aware that Allegra Spender and family are well known to the Turnbull Family and vice versa.
It’s a small world.
of course
All whilst China, India and rapidly developing African Nations are cheerfully commissioning more coal-fired power stations than the rest of the zero-emissions numpties have left to shut down! This has never been about climate, it’s about the wholesale destruction of first-world industrially-based societies and economies.
UN Lima Protocol 1975
Gradual transfer of manufacturing industry from developed nations to developing nations, including China.
Ask why now deceased Canadian billionaire, former UN official, said to have been architect of climate change warming politics based on natural climate, who was granted asylum in China when the Environmental Protection Agency Canada was chasing him for illegally extracting water from an aquifer under land he purchased in Canada.
Strong’s cousin was a girlfriend of Mao Zedong, Chairman Mao of China, the Little Red Book author and Communist. And consider the controlled and managed “capitalism” permitted for party members by the Chinese Communist Party. And then climate change and the admissions, including in October 2015 by UN Official Christiana Figureres, that the real objective of climate change politics is to destroy capitalism as the world knows it, the system that gave developed nations the prosperity and wealth, the system China and Russia adopted when they realised that was key to United States of America and allies wealth.
What on earth has voting got to do with climate change and the government’s determination to fill the countryside with windmills and solar panels. I gave up looking for the end of that stuff below, just too much ado about nothing.
Albanese will be rounding up the companies who install the wind and solar, organizing a guaranteed profit deal and locking us in to an economic failure. We will get unreliable energy on a massive scale. Our coal fired plants are being closed and what’s left will not fill the gap.
The house of cards will fall when the price of electricity double or triples and when blackouts become a daily occurrence.
No doubt Australians can’t wait to see their economy shut down so the government can brag about unobtainable climate goals.
The big bang… spontaneous combustion theory of the Green deal.
Well considering this Australian election was a choice of baby poo or baby vomit, I wrote in for dog excrement! The next few years are going to be painful for Australians, but it will most likely result in another decade+ of Coalition government after the next Federal election.
“Beginning back in the 1980s when Margaret Thatcher…”
Wilson closed more mines than Thatcher ever did.