Antinuclear

Is the Gillard government now downgrading climate change?

The Climate Change Department’s staff once numbered above 1,000. It is now down to “approximately 620 with 50 contract staff” and, according to Senate Estimates from October last year, “employee staff numbers are steadily declining”… with no more Climate Change Department, there will no longer be a Climate Change secretary.

 “how can the minister overseeing the big mining companies turn around and manage renewable energy?”

New-look Climate Change Department: What’s ahead? ABC News, By environment reporter Sarah Clarke, Mar 27, 2013 
After last week’s spill that never happened and in a week described by the Prime Minister as “appalling”, it was on the cards that those who stuck by Julia Gillard would be rewarded.

But with the new ministries unveiled and extra portfolios being taken on by some, you have to ask, are they being rewarded or overloaded?

Climate Change Minister Greg Combet has been a staunch supporter of the Prime Minister and that has now translated to a number of extra titles and a huge portfolio.

And what does this mean for what was the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency? It is now being squeezed under the umbrella of the Industry Department, while the Energy Efficiency component is being shifted to the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism.

The Climate Change Department’s staff once numbered above 1,000. It is now down to “approximately 620 with 50 contract staff” and, according to Senate Estimates from October last year, “employee staff numbers are steadily declining”….. with no more Climate Change Department, there will no longer be a Climate Change secretary.

Around 300 staff moved to the Clean Energy Regulator in 2012. Departmental secretary Blair Comley moved to the Resources Department last month.

A spokesman from Mr Combet’s office says there will now be “one secretary in the merged department, Don Russell”.

So with no more Climate Change Department, there will no longer be a Climate Change secretary.

As for the future of the department’s deputy secretary and the executive, the spokesman noted “these sort of decisions will be determined by the secretary of the merged department in the coming period as the merger is implemented”. ……

Will it work?

Not everyone is convinced it is a partnership that will work.

When it comes to the movement of Energy Efficiency to Resources, some industry insiders had thought that energy and emission reduction policies best fit with the Climate Change Department.

 “how can the minister overseeing the big mining companies turn around and manage renewable energy?”

Leigh Ewbank, from the group Yes 2 Renewables, stated that Climate and Energy Efficiency is a more natural fit, given the urgent need to decarbonise the economy.

And what happened to Climate Change Adaptation? Has that once commonly used title now gone altogether?

The ABC did a story last month about the future of the body charged with preparing the nation to meet the challenge of global warming, the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility.

It saw the writing on the wall. The Federal Government did not recommit any future funds and the facility is worried about its future.

So the Government has five-and-a-half months to make this new Industry and Climate Change partnership work….. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-27/climate-marriage3a-will-it-work3f/4595794

March 30, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, politics