Our political leaders will do anything to stay in positions of power, including deceiving the voting public on urgent matters of climate change, writes Sue Arnold.
|
|
Nationals leader, Deputy PM and wearer of ridiculous hats, Barnaby
Joyce (Screenshot via YouTube)
|
The latest media drama over whether Prime Minister Scott Morrison will succeed in bringing the National Party to the climate change table is entirely focused on political gains and losses.
We've seen divisions, articles on Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce, Senator Matt Canavan and MP George Christensen, with absolutely zero focus on the extreme urgency of the situation facing our planet.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed Morrison as “leading the way” on climate with his spoken importance of countries “meeting and beating” their climate targets. One can only speculate on the calibre of her advisors and whether Australia’s right-wing Government has any bandwidth in U.S. politics.
It was an extraordinary statement given the overwhelming evidence that Australia is a climate change outlier under the Morrison Government, an embarrassment to nations taking steps to address a “code red” issue.
|
National Party’s emission plan: No coal executive left behind 
|
| The National Party appear to be the only people who think the Morrison Government takes climate seriously and they are not happy. |
Their focus is entirely dismissive of the catastrophic environmental impacts
outlined by the U.N. report.
IA has compiled a shortlist of Joyce media statements and threatened
actions on climate change.
Mid-June, the
Sydney Morning Herald
reported that Joyce warned against a target of net zero by 2050 and joined
Senator Canavan in signalling he was willing to cross the floor on the issue.
Wikipedia
indicates Canavan’s brother John is a mining executive.
In early September,
The Guardian
reported that Joyce
‘declares he won’t be “bullied” on climate science’, likening
questioning on his stance
‘to a baptism where parents were required to “denounce Satan and all his
works and deeds”’.
Joyce further declared that he won’t be “berated” or participate in a
“kangaroo court”.
He also indicated that the Nationals would work to ensure urban Australia, not
regional Australia, paid the price “if there’s a price to be paid”.
More recently, the
SMH
reported that
‘Joyce is said to be driving a hard bargain with his cabinet colleagues
with one saying he was demanding “bucket loads of cash for the bush” to
justify any agreement’
to zero emissions by 2050.
SMH
reported earlier this month that Joyce has suggested a $5 billion extension of
the
Inland Rail into
Queensland coal country in return for the Nationals backing a commitment on
net zero emissions by 2050.
|
| The National Party has abandoned farmers in favour of caving into the demands of fossil fuel donors, writes David Paull. |
Who owns Australia’s agricultural lands? Who is Joyce representing when insisting he’s protecting the bush?
Climate change policy a la Joyce cannot be a series of smart remarks on mainstream media combined with wearing a gigantic, ridiculous hat on television. Does he ever look in the mirror?
Livestock makes up about 10% of Australia’s emissions, mainly due to methane from manure which has 28 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.
A fascinating gallery of Australia’s biggest private landowners reveals a dog’s breakfast of international actors, major multinational companies, Australian billionaires and millionaires owning a significant wack of agricultural lands. Plus, mega political influence.
A Guardian team also attempted to establish who owns Australia, experiencing the same roadblocks and conflicting information as IA. However, facts dug up by the Guardian team are interesting.
Pastoral leases cover 44% of Australia; the data obtained showed more than 400 owners together owned about a quarter of the country.
The biggest pastoral leaseholder is Western Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart who controls 1.2% of Australia’s landmass.
The Age said of Rinehart:
Over the years, her ardent support for Joyce has included $40,000 on National Agriculture Day in 2017which the magnate billed as an award to the New England MP for being a “champion of our industry”. Amid fierce political criticism, Joyce returned the cash.
In 2013, Rinehart donated $50,000 to his election campaign and in 2011, Joyce was one of three Coalition MPs flown on Rinehart’s private jet to Hyderabad in India for a mining associate’s wedding.
|
Morrison Government re-election would be an environmental catastrophe 
|
| If the Morrison Government wins the next federal election, Australia can kiss goodbye to our unique, irreplaceable wildlife. |
According to Federal Government data, China is the biggest offshore holder of Australian farmland in 2019-2020 with 9.2 million hectares, followed by the UK, the Netherlands, the U.S. and Canada.
Morrison’s latest line, which no doubt he will use as “Australia’s climate plan” at Glasgow and in the forthcoming election, is “technology will change everything”.
What technology?
Energy Minister Angus Taylor has produced a technology investment roadmap titled ‘First Low Emissions Technology Statement— 2020’.
Priority goals are identified as clean hydrogen, energy storage, low carbon materials, CO2 compression, hub transport and storage and soil carbon sequestration.
A national hydrogen strategy estimates a domestic industry could generate over 8,000 jobs and $11billion a year in GDP by 2050. Clearly, no quick fix.
Currently, most hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels, specificallynatural gas.
The roadmap is devoid of environmental recommendations or considerations. There are no recommendations to end the industrial logging of forests, no discussion or recommendations on the importance of retaining biodiversity or intact ecosystems.
As any environmentally aware person will acknowledge, there’s no technology solution for replacing the ecological role of forests in converting CO2 into oxygen. Or one for overcoming drought, or creating rain.
Climate Council says:
‘Avoiding clearing of old growth, carbon-rich vegetation and protecting regrowth vegetation are the most effective approaches to mitigating climate change using land systems.’The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Issues Brief on climate change indicates:
Forests help stabilise the climate. They regulate ecosystems, protect biodiversity, play an integral part in the carbon cycle...To maximise the climate benefits of forests, we must keep more forest landscapes intact...Halting the loss and degradation of natural systems and promoting their restoration have the potential to contribute over one-third of the total climate change mitigation scientists say is required by 2030.On a practical level, there are plenty of available solutions which do not require extensive government statements with graphs and endless mind-numbing weasel words.
Professor Annette Cowie, NSW Department of Primary Industries, says there are many ways cattle farmers can reduce their carbon footprint:
“[By] planting trees, practises that build soil organic matter, feeding biochar to enhance animal health and feeding the algae that reduces methane emissions...”Both Morrison and Joyce have children. Sussan Ley, Morrison’s Environment Minister, recently challenged a Federal Court ruling that she had an obligation to consider climate change impacts on future generations.
Perhaps it's time to create a portfolio of lies and media statements by our political leaders to present to Glasgow Climate Conference attendees so there is no confusion about the real Morrison Government stand on climate change.
Links
- National Party’s emission plan: No coal executive left behind
- The value of a degrowth economy: Our planet would be richer for it
- Climate education is essential for a better future
- Corporate 'greenwashing' a major obstacle in climate change fight
- Politicians still refuse to take action on climate disaster
- Climate crisis putting a billion children at ‘extremely high risk’
- U.S.-China talk could torpedo climate conference
- Climate education is essential for a better future
- Corporate 'greenwashing' a major obstacle in climate change fight
- Politicians still refuse to take action on climate disaster
- Climate crisis putting a billion children at ‘extremely high risk’
No comments :
Post a Comment