Antinuclear

Climate change is a direct threat to Australia’s future prosperity and safety.

Australia’s extreme budget meets extreme climate, Guardian, Alex White 22 May 14,“……….The trashing of Australia’s renewable energy sector removes the last pretense that this government would take climate change seriously. No one who accepts the dangers of global warming would destroy their nation’s renewable energy capacity, or the fossil fuel industry’s incentives to develop carbon capture technology. (The bitter pill is that the Abbott government plans to keep billions of dollars worth ofcorporate fossil fuel subsidies with the diesel rebate, while increasing the  excise for individual motorists.)

There are many other instances in the budget – too many to name – that should leave the Australian public, and the global community, under no doubt that the government is run by climate deniers.

It is clear now that the carbon price introduced by the former Labor government must be ferociously defended, and the government’sdiscredited “direct action” policy opposed. As an economic reform, the combination of the trading scheme and a steadily reducing cap on emissions is essential to both reduce Australia’s carbon emissions, and to ensure Australia remains a constructive player in global efforts.

It remains to be seen how the new Senate, where coal magnate Clive Palmer holds the balance of power, will act, but it is clear that both Labor and the Greens will block the repeal of the carbon price under the current senate. To its credit, Labor has remained firm in its support for an emissions trading scheme with a cap.

Australia sweltered through one of the hottest summers on record, and the winter of 2014 is preparing to match or break heat records. For people who do take global warming seriously, efforts to halt the Australian government’s reckless agenda now rests on the Senate.

The unseasonably hot May demonstrates yet again the pressing moral urgency of climate action; the assault on the renewable energy sector is yet another symptom of the moral failures of Abbott’s government.http://www.theguardian.com/environment/southern-crossroads/2014/may/21/may-heatwave-budget-2014-abbott-renewable-energy-cuts

May 22, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | General News