Sir Abbott, duplicity is thy name
Do you come here often?
Every day the duplicity of this government becomes more apparent. In
order to assist their political puppet masters, the Coalition is
prepared to condemn future generations to the enormous task and cost of
coping with catastrophic climate change.
Joe Hockey, in another crass display of duplicitous behaviour, tells
us that Labor left us with a debt of $667 billion. What he fails to
mention is that this is projected debt for 2024. By that time, if we
continue on this path of destruction, I would suggest our debt will be
far higher as we cope with natural disasters of increasing intensity and
the health and social costs from rising temperatures and pollution of
our air and water.
Our tourism trade will suffer as the reef dies, the old growth
forests are logged, marine creatures are slaughtered, and animals become
extinct as their habitat is handed over to miners and developers. Our
farmers will struggle with drought as the Murray-Darling dries up.
Summer will be a time to fear as bushfires rage around the southern
states and cyclones and floods devastate the North. Our exporters and
airlines (if we have any) will face sanctions from countries that have
emission reduction strategies in place.
The WHO’s Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan, joined the ever-growing chorus from influential leaders when she said:
“Climate change will affect, in profoundly adverse ways, some
of the most fundamental determinants of health… we need champions
throughout the world who will work to put protecting human health at the
centre of the climate change agenda.”
The group Doctors for the environment Australia
focuses on the environmental causes of human illness and the means to
address them. At their recent conference an impressive display of
speakers urged doctors to become vocal and active in campaigning for
urgent action on climate change.
Greg Hunt was heckled as he, in all seriousness, said that Australia
would use its presidency of the G20 as a “catalyst” to help the “G4” –
the US, China, the European Union and India – complete the groundwork
for a new deal to lower emissions. He spoke about the value of trees in
carbon reduction amidst taunts about logging the World Heritage forests
in Tasmania. Do as we say, not as we do?
In October last year, Hydro Tasmania announced a record $238 million
profit, $70 million of which came directly from the carbon tax. When
asked if Tasmania would receive compensation for scrapping the tax, Greg
Hunt said “We are not proposing compensation to businesses as a result
of the carbon tax repeal.” But they are more than happy to give billions
to polluters to update their factories.
Tasmanian opposition energy spokesman Mathew Groom said Hydro
Tasmania’s record dividends had come at the cost of high power prices in
Tasmania, and scrapping the carbon tax would lower power prices, but
Lara Giddings said power prices were set to drop 5 per cent on January
1, independent of the carbon tax. So much for caring about Tasmania.
The Senate Committee investigating the Coalition’s Direct Action Plan have released their findings.
To paraphrase…Direct Action is crap, won’t work, will cost a fortune,
will require a huge bureaucracy to administer, is lacking in detail
about implementation, is inadequate for now let alone the future, and is
just downright madness. Recommendation – stick with our current system
but up the ante.
Clean energy and low-carbon investors are abandoning Australia as the
Federal government, and its conservative colleagues at state level,
turn their interests and policies away from renewables and long-term
carbon abatement incentives. Nathan Fabian, the head of the Investor
Group on Climate Change, told the Senate committee that “Direct action
is not an investment grade policy,” noting that investors viewed it more
like a short-term grants scheme. Banks, he said, were likely to take a
similar view, echoing the frustrations of many players in the clean
energy industry who have been unable to obtain finance because of policy
uncertainty.
Fabian also said the proposed review of the RET “appears to be
another very clear signal that Australia will not be a market for
low-carbon investing for the next few years. My members are looking at
the United Kingdom, Ireland, the United States, France and some South
American countries as having more stable investment environments for
low-carbon opportunities ” So much for being open for business.
Tim Buckley, a former Citigroup chief analyst in Australia, clean
energy funds manager, and now with the US-based Institute for Energy
Economics and Financial Analysis, told the same hearing that the
Australian clean energy industry is regressing because of the lack of
clarity on policy.
“We are worse than stalling; we are actually investing in
assets that I think will become stranded as a result,” Buckley said.
“Internationally, companies and economies are building industry capacity
to transition for the long term. We should be building capacity as well
and we are not doing so.”
He said Australia was currently missing out on hundreds of
billions of dollars that were being invested every year in renewables,
in energy efficiency and in development of these new technologies, and
the hundreds of thousands of jobs being created in China, in Germany and
in America. So much for jobs, jobs, jobs.
Numerous other parties have dismissed the proposed emissions
reduction fund as “unfinancable” – mostly because it offers a maximum
5-year investment horizon. That reflects the view of most people – and
possibly even the government – that Direct Action is not a
long-term policy position, just part of a short-term political manoeuvre
that has helped deliver power to the conservative parties.
Economists are convinced that carbon pricing will yield the greatest
environmental bang-for-buck at the lowest economic cost. Justin Wolfers,
an Australian professor at the University of Michigan, says:
“Abbott’s plan doesn’t effectively harness market forces; it
relies instead on the government handing out cheques. One problem is
that we’ll end up subsidising a lot of abatement that would have
occurred anyway. Another is that the plan imposes extra costs because it
uses scarce tax dollars . . . All told, Direct Action involves more
economic disruption for less of an environmental payoff.”
Quoting from the Federal Parliament website:
“The Senate is a house of review and a powerful check on
the government of the day. The proportional representation system of
voting used to elect senators makes it easier for independents and the
candidates of the smaller parties to be elected. In recent decades this
has meant that the government party usually does not have a majority of
votes in the Senate and the non–government senators are able to use
their combined voting power to reject or amend government legislation.
The Senate’s large and active committee system also enables senators to
inquire into policy issues in depth and to scrutinise the way laws and
policies are administered by ministers and public servants.”
I would ask all Senators to remember their role. You have heard the
expert advice. You have received submissions from stakeholders and
concerned parties. You have whole departments to help you understand
what you are being told. On the basis of what you have learned, you have
recommended that we do not proceed with the Emissions Reduction Fund,
that we have an Emissions Trading Scheme, and that we increase out
targets.
The lie about the carbon tax hurting business and families just has
to stop. Families were well compensated for the small increase in power
bills due to the carbon price. Trade exposed businesses were also
compensated. Renewable energy and sustainable practice received funding,
and research and development was leading to whole new industries. And
if you were really all that concerned you could make power GST free.
Mr Abbott, your absolute intransigence on this matter, your
insistence on “we said we’ll do it so we will”, regardless of all expert
advice to the contrary, makes you unfit to lead our country. You show
no intitiative, you are unable to react to changing circumstances, you
are unwilling to take advice, and you are prepared to sacrifice all for
the short term gain of the wealthy. And as for you Greg Hunt and Malcolm
Turnbull, you are despicable – you know the truth but are unwilling to
speak it.
People of Western Australia, I urge you to consider how important it
is to have a genuine house of review in the Senate. Our fate lies in
your hands.
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