Malcolm Turnbull’s son can’t vote Liberal because of their failure on climate change
Can’t vote Liberal ‘in good conscience‘: Alex Turnbull blasts climate stance , Brisbane Times, By Peter Hannam, 27 August 2018 Alex Turnbull blamed “rent-seekers” backing the coal industry for felling his father Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister, saying it’s “impossible” to vote for the Liberal-National coalition “in good conscience” because of its climate stance.In a wide-ranging interview just days after his father lost power in a party room putsch, the Singapore-based fund manager told Fairfax Media the Liberal Party faced being hijacked by financial interests that stood to make windfall profits if coal-related assets were bolstered by taxpayers.
Those interests “have their hooks into the Liberal Party … which has no money”, Mr Turnbull said, adding that returns could be “100 to 1” if policies fall investors’ way.
Mr Turnbull’s experience includes a stint at investment banking giant Goldman Sachs. Some of his work has also involved trading debt for Australian-based coal-fired power plants, giving him insights into that industry’s outlook.
“If you create such an environment – with such a high rate of return – you’ll see a lot more of that [influence peddling],” he said……..
“It’s impossible to vote for the LNP in good conscience,” Mr Turnbull said, adding he had no intention of entering politics himself. “My father fought the stupid and the stupid won.”
Mr Turnbull was also critical of the government’s overall climate action, saying that pulling the Paris Agreement – as conservative MPs and pundits have been demanding – was irrelevant at this point.
“It’s like being in a university course, final exams are coming and you haven’t done three-quarters of the work,” he said. “You’re going to fail anyway.”……
He predicted Labor’s left would keep that party “honest” on climate change.
Bill Shorten “doesn’t really care about climate change – he just wants the jobs”, Mr Turnbull said, adding that there were lots of them in Victoria and elsewhere as the renewable energy boom rolls on.
Two terms of federal Labor should mean Australia’s electricity sector “would have crossed the magic line” – such as exceeding 40 per cent of supply from wind and solar. “They’re not going to be able to go back.”
Taking serious action on climate change “should be the response of any sane leader”, he said. https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/environment/climate-change/can-t-vote-liberal-in-good-conscience-alex-turnbull-blasts-climate-stance-20180827-p50018.html
Climate change is upon us, and we are leaderless
“,World War III is well and truly underway. And we are losing,” writes environmental activist Bill McKibben, so when Malcolm Turnbull implied that the insurgency that demolished his government was based on climate ideology, what lessons are there for Scott Morrison?
As a child in Britain during WWII, I lived in a street of mothers and children. ……..
Britain was a united and cohesive community. Young and old worked daily in small ways for the common cause. But most importantly, in the free world, two countries — Britain and the US — had leaders in Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt who could explain the need for duty and sacrifice.
Their like is yet to emerge today, and indeed the Western world is bereft, perhaps apart from French President Emmanuel Macron, who explained to Congress and the American people that secure borders are irrelevant to this threat, and all of us are world citizens needing to act in concert. “There is no Planet B,” he said.
He challenged Malcolm Turnbull to show leadership on climate change.
US and Australia trading ideology for human lives
Two of the world’s highest per capita carbon emitters, the United States and Australia, have deserted the trenches of WWIII by trading ideology for human lives and health.
Climate change litigation rising with the seas
The US response to the climate threat has been withdrawal from the Paris agreement and a full-frontal attack on the US Environmental Protection Authority, a national defence against climate change, pollution and ill-health — as irrational as if the Germans had demolished their “Siegfried Line” of WWII.
As a doctor, I know that they will compromise the health of children and families from relaxation of pollution standards on coal-fired power stationsand from weaker fuel standards. Their actions are an attack on all humanity and thereby the US has abandoned world leadership.
Australia’s response to climate change is devious; under the guise of action, the transition to renewable energy has been carefully modulated to maintain coal. Policy was corrupted by deference to a party clique of climate deniers who proudly named their group after Australia’s most illustrious WW1 general John Monash, and were deaf to his descendants pleading for his name to be removed.
Like the US, Australia is failing to save the lives of its citizens by prolonging the life of polluting coal-fired power.
As a wealthy, technological nation failing to assist others in a transition from fossil fuels, and soon to become the leading exporter of coal and gas in the world, Australia has failed to temper its quest for prosperity and serve the needs of humanity……..http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-28/climate-change-is-world-war-3-and-we-are-leaderless/10168962
PM Morrison visiting drought areas “not terribly interested” in climate change
 PM Scott Morrison evades climate change link to drought, 9 News
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On nuclear and coal issues, Australia’s new government’s Cabinet – A SORRY LOT!
Mathias Cormann, Minister for Finance, Special Minister of State, Leader of the Government in the Senate: WA senator pushes benefits of nuclear energy
A WA Liberal Senator, Mathias Cormann, is pushing the merits of Australia developing nuclear energy …….But, Mr Cormann was unable to say where waste would be buried.
“Longer term, very clearly we do have to find ways to store or to dispose of it in deep geological disposal arrangements but we have time for that“….http://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-12-04/wa-senator-pushes-benefits-of-nuclear-energy/1168286
Josh Frydenberg, Treasurer Six sites for nuclear dump revealed by Josh Frydenberg https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/six-sites-for-nuclear-dump-revealed-by-josh-frydenberg/news-story/beb13af3f67278e688f7cf115eabf618
Steve Ciobo, Minister for Defence Industry Steve Ciobo overturned mining loan ban without consulting department The minister for trade, Steve Ciobo, overturned a ban on government-backed loans to domestic miners last year without consulting his department.
The controversial decision meant the federal government could start funding coalmining projects at a time when Australia’s major banks are increasingly distancing themselves from investing in coal.
Matthew Canavan, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia
Resources Minister Matt Canavan is deceptive in his statements about “Low Level 
“nuclear waste https://antinuclear.net/2018/08/17/resources-minister-matt-canavan-is-deceptive-in-his-statements-about-low-level-nuclear-waste/
Matt Canavan’s optimistic coal forecast contradicts his own department https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jul/02/matt-canavans-optimistic-coal-forecast-contradicts-his-own-department
Melissa Price, Minister for the Environment. This one is a bit of an unknown quantity. Unlike the rest of them, she actually knows something about the environment. Expect the rest of them to bully her into shape
David Fawcett, Assistant Minister for Defence was noted as a climate change denier, on the Liberals don’t want sustainable energy list http://ramblingsdc.net/Australia/Liberal.html
Pathetic Australia ?- freeloading as the rest of the world grapples with climate change
Richard Glover on climate policy: Australia insignificant? Pathetic and absurd, Brisbane Times By Richard Glover , 24 Aug 18 “……..Australia was a small place of little import, dwarfed by these [overseas] humming centres of real life.
Once you’ve grown up with that idea, as many Australians did, it can be hard to shift gear. That’s why – some years on – I was taken aback when I acquired a copy of the Times Atlas of the World. It had a table listing the great cities of the world, according to the size of their population…….
Australia now has the 13th largest economy in the world, with predictions it will be the 11th largest within a decade. If NSW went it alone, as a separate country, the economy would be the 26th biggest in the world. In military terms, a recent comparison listed the country in 21st position, out of 136.
The latest version of this dire, cringing attitude formed the background to this week’s leadership spill. The Dutton forces kept repeating the same mantra: Australia is so small it has no impact on carbon emissions. We may as well do nothing. Anything else is grandstanding or “virtue-signalling”.
It’s true, of course, that Australia’s emissions are less than those of the United States and China, but that doesn’t mean they are “nothing” or “negligible”, the terms always employed.
Australia was responsible for 1.1 per cent of global emissions in 2016, making us the 16th most polluting country in the world. Per head we’re among the worst.
Then there’s the idea that – due to our size – we should give up the ambition of having a positive impact on the world. Important battles – this is the underlying thought – should be left to others. We can stand on the sidelines and freeload………
It’s the cringe, writ large. It shows neither national pride nor global spirit. It’s also out of step with a balanced understanding of our relatively-significant place in the world.
We need, finally, to overcome this demeaning sense of self. The alternative: a fresh generation of Australians, fingers tracing maps, dreaming of a country that treats itself with a bit more dignity. https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/opinion/richard-glover-on-climate-policy-australia-insignificant–pathetic-and-absurd-20180821-h149jc.html
Australia’s climate change policy sets a dangerous precedent for the world
if all other countries were to follow Australia’s current policy settings, warming could reach over 3°C and up to 4°C.
Climate Change Policy Toppled Australia’s Leader. Here’s What It Means for Others, New York Times, By Somini Sengupta Aug. 24, 2018
Climate change policy toppled the government in Australia on Friday.
How much does that really matter?
It is certain to keep Australia from meeting its emissions targets under the Paris climate agreement.
It’s also a glimpse into what a potent political issue climate change and energy policy can be in a handful of countries with powerful fossil fuel lobbies, namely Australia, Canada and the United States.
In Australia, the world’s largest exporter of coal, climate and energy policy have infused politics for a decade, helping to bring down both liberal and conservative lawmakers.
This week, the failure to pass legislation that would have reined in greenhouse gas emissions precipitated Malcolm Turnbull’s ouster as prime minister. He was elbowed out by Scott Morrison, an ardent champion of the Australian coal industry who is known for having brought a lump of the stuff to Parliament.
It could be a bellwether for next year’s Canadian elections, expected in October, in which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faces a powerful challenge from politicians aligned with the country’s oil industry. Conservatives have pledged to undo Mr. Trudeau’s plans to put a price on carbon nationwide if they take power. At the provincial level, conservatives won a majority in Ontario after campaigning against the province’s newly enacted cap-and-trade program.
The Australian parallels with the United States are striking. The Trump administration has promised to revive the coal industry, rolled back fuel emissions standards and announced the country’s exit from the Paris pact altogether. Climate change is not a driving issue in the United States midterm election campaign, though it is for liberal Democrats, a recent study by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication has shown.
Environmental policy and global warming are top priorities for those who describe themselves as liberal Democrats, the study found, after health care and gun control.
……… Robert C. Orr, dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, pointed to another parallel: In both Australia and the United States, local leaders have embraced renewable energy even as national politicians promote fossil fuels.
“Australia is a lot like the U.S.,” said Dr. Orr, who is also the special adviser on climate change to the United Nations secretary general. “Climate policy has really been driven from below, from the state, local and business level. That is not going to change.”
Most Australian states have renewable energy targets, and Australians are powering their houses with solar energy at one of the highest rates in the world. But Australia’s emissions have continued to rise.
Australia is among several industrialized nations that are not on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius as the Paris accord promises, according to independent analyses.
Climate Action Tracker, an alliance of European think tanks that tracks countries’ climate pledges under the agreement, concluded recently that “if all other countries were to follow Australia’s current policy settings, warming could reach over 3°C and up to 4°C.” Those are levels that climate scientists consider “highly insufficient” to stop the worst effects of climate change. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/24/climate/australia-climate-change.html
The Liberal Party is imploding largely because of climate change.
‘Climate wars’ claim another political scalp IN Daily, 24 Aug 18 While some remain unconvinced that climate change is wreaking havoc with our weather systems, the current circus in federal politics proves it is doing inordinate damage to our political system, writes climate lobbyist Rod Mitchell. It may not be obvious to all that climate change is beginning to wreak havoc with our weather systems but the last few days in federal politics makes it clear as day that climate change is doing inordinate damage to our political system.
The ‘climate wars’ have deeply infected and divided our parliament. Now they have formally divided the Coalition, perhaps fatally.
The Liberal Party is imploding in large part because of climate change.
The feelings that it engenders have latched onto and amplified other tensions and differences in the party and lit the fuse of self-destruction. The prospect of legislating our Paris Climate Agreement target as part of the NEG was just the last straw in a struggle that has been going on since 2009, at least.
Climate change was a major factor in the successive downfalls of Rudd and Gillard and the end of the Labor government itself. And it has been a significant cause of the increasing polarisation in politics, both here and in other parts of the world.
The great divide between US Democrats and Republicans has been fuelled by vested interests who have funded think tanks to sow seeds of doubt about climate change and have made many ‘political donations’ to Members of Congress.
So why is climate change having such a powerful effect on politics? There are two main reasons.
First, the implications of climate change are truly frightening, so much so that for most of us it is too hard to look at. It is so much easier to look away, to keep busy with life and to welcome the soothing words of anyone who suggests that it is not happening. The survival instincts we have inherited from our ancestors are finely tuned to respond to immediate danger but have not yet evolved to encompass more distant threats. We tend to live for the present and for the short-term future. We can think about setting up our kids with a good education and job prospects but find it too hard to think about leaving them a liveable world.
Secondly, our economic system is set up in such a way that it is unable to put medium to long-term risk ahead of short-term gain. Quite simply, the profits to be made from activities that feed climate change are so great that most industries and their customers (that’s most of us) cannot resist the temptation. Furthermore, companies are obliged to grow their business and produce surpluses, but only in the short term. Only recently are they being urged (but not obliged) to factor climate risk into longer-term planning.
This is the way our economic system has evolved and it is inevitable that corporations would use the political power their wealth has generated to keep it evolving in their interests. Funding think tanks, donating to political parties and MPs and lavishing decision makers with their largesse make perfect economic, if not moral sense. Political instability, opportunist politicking and policy paralysis are acceptable forms of collateral damage if the profits keep flowing.
There comes a tipping point however where the damage begins to threaten the economy itself and the society it is supposed to serve. Perhaps that point has arrived, and our current political crisis may be the most glaring symptom yet.
With Scott Morrison as Australia’s new Prime Minister- no hope for action on climate change
“Scoal-Mo” as PM. What does that mean for climate and energy policy? REneweconomy 24 August 2018
……a relief for the renewable energy industry in Australia – because it is clear that Dutton may have led Australia out of the Paris climate agreement and even brought renewable energy schemes to a crashing halt.
But it may not be cause for celebration. Morrison will lead and will have as his deputy Josh Frydenberg, the man who put together the National Energy Guarantee that proposed no new investment in wind and solar for a decade.
Morrison is known as “Sco-Mo”, an abbreviation of his name. But he might just as well be known as “Scoal-Mo” after brandishing a lump of coal thoughtfully lacquered by the Minerals Council of Australia in parliament in February last year.
But we were. In doing this, Morrison was pinning his colours to the mast of energy policy idiocy of the sort you find in the Murdoch media and on talk back radio, and on the front and back benches of the Coalition.
And Morrison dived even deeper into the murky depths of ignorance a few months later.
South Australia had followed that outage in February – caused by the failure of a gas plant to switch on – by building the Tesla big battery – in just 100 days – but Morrison decried it as being as useful as the Big Banana………
Morrison, as Treasurer, also ignored climate change in his most recent budget, making no mention of it in his speech, apart from insisting that Australia would “maintain our responsible and achievable emissions reduction target at 26-28 per cent and not the 45 per cent demanded by the opposition.”……
Right now, there is no policy in place. Australia’s emissions are rising, predicted to miss the weak 2030 target by a wide margin, and there is complete uncertainty about the National Energy Guarantee that Frydenberg has been spending a year putting together with the Energy Security Board and the big business lobbies.
Frydenberg has had to run the line between good energy policy and the madness of the right wing, and ended up with a policy proposal that sought no emissions reductions from the sector that can deliver the cheapest……https://reneweconomy.com.au/scoal-mo-as-pm-what-does-that-mean-for-climate-and-energy-policy-26556/
Annabel Crabb outlines the demise of Australia’s climate policy in 7 killings
Australia’s recent climate change policy: A brief history of seven killings http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-23/climate-change-policy-a-brief-history-of-seven-killings/10152616, By Annabel Crabb
The story starts in 1997, when the brand-new Howard government (sweating through a brief and cock-up-infested first term during which it lost a series of ministers and most of the margin with which it had wrested power from Paul Keating) sends its environment minister, Robert Hill, to Japan for the seminal Kyoto Climate Summit.
At the summit, Senator Hill negotiates generous terms for his country in the global deal; Australia emerged with large concessions for its agricultural activities and is one of only three countries permitted to increase its emissions under the deal.
Senator Hill is welcomed home as a conquering hero.
However, over the years enthusiasm for the compact is replaced within the government by scepticism.
First casualty Continue reading
Right wing MPs wanted Dutton as PM to exit Paris climate agreement
MPs push for Paris climate exit under Dutton, The Age, By Eryk Bagshaw23 August 2018 —Conservative MPs would ramp up the pressure on a Dutton government to exit the Paris climate agreement, opening up Australia to the risk of trade sanctions, stalling negotiations with the European Union and critically endangering relationships with the Pacific.
……..The conservative vanguard, led by former prime minister Tony Abbott and backbenchers Craig Kelly, Jim Molan and Eric Abetz, have been fierce advocates of dumping the Paris climate deal and delivering the Catholic school sector millions in extra funding.
The group has been instrumental in elevating Mr Dutton to within striking distance of the Lodge on a platform of lowering energy bills, cutting immigration and wrestling control of the Liberal Party away from the “inner-city elite”.
Mr Dutton refused to commit to the Paris agreement when he announced he was challenging Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for his job. “My judgment is that we do whatever reduces power prices,” he said. …….Mr Kelly, a Dutton ally, said there should a full national audit of the impact of the Paris target on the economy.
……..The agreement locks in an emissions cut of 26-28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030.
Pulling out of it, which can not be done before 2020, would put Australia in breach of international trade agreements, potentially endangering a free trade deal with the EU that is in the middle of negotiations.
Legislation does not have to pass Parliament to exit Paris. A prime ministerial direction to the joint committee on treaties would be enough to remove Australia from the deal.
Robyn Eckerlsey, a climate treaty expert at the University of Melbourne, said it “was a crazy thing” to be considering given the pledged targets are voluntary and there were no formal penalties……
The Pacific Islands Forum is due to be held in the first week of September, where Australia could be represented by Mr Turnbull, Mr Dutton, Scott Morrison or Julie Bishop if there is a party-room vote on Friday.
The landmass of some of the nations attending – including Kiribati and the Maldives – are directly threatened by rising sea levels…….https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/mps-push-for-paris-climate-exit-under-dutton-20180823-p4zz9y.html
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sells out on climate policy, in effort to save his job
Turnbull dumps emissions from NEG in final act of capitulation, REneweconomy
Malcolm Turnbull caves in to climate denialists – again
Malcolm Turnbull dumps plan to legislate Paris emissions targets, ABC News, By political editor Andrew Probyn and Melissa Clarke , 17 Aug 18
Drought, wind and heat: Bushfire season is starting earlier and lasting longer
ABC News, The Conversation By Owen Price 17 Aug 18
Climate change is increasing Australia’s heat and drought
Great southern drought: Australian farmers crippled, climate action stalled https://www.dw.com/en/great-southern-drought-australian-farmers-crippled-climate-action-stalled/a-45015773
Amidst the worst drought in living memory, the world’s driest continent is also heating up due to climate change. Critics say too little is being done to prevent increasing temperatures and decreasing rainfall.
New South Wales, which is Australia’s most populous state and about the size of France, was declared 100 percent in drought on Wednesday.
Despite the fact that it is winter, farmers in the state and throughout the southern region of Australia are struggling to maintain their livelihood as crops fail and livestock die.
With grazing land turned to dust, some farmers have resorted to hand-feeding to keep their stock alive. They also have permission to shoot kangaroos that compete for pasture. Depression and suicide among farmers are on the rise.
And yet, there is no end in sight to this crippling drought, unseen for generations. The predicted start of bushfire season has been brought forward two months in New South Wales to prepare for what could be an apocalyptic summer scenario.
Though Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth and has regularly experienced intense droughts since modern record-taking began after European colonization, the relatively fertile southern regions continue getting hotter while receiving less rain.
Autumn of 2017 in southern Australia was the driest for 116 years. And 2017 was also the hottest year ever in New South Wales.
Increasing drought
“These regions experienced increasing intensity and frequency of hot days and heat waves over the past 50 years, in turn increasing drought severity,” said Lesley Hughes, a professor of biology at Sydney’s Macquarie University and councillor with the Climate Council — a climate change information nonprofit created after the current government closed down the state-funded Climate Commission.
But the “source of the problem is complex,” she told DW.
Scientists are confident that warming linked to human-induced climate change “has contributed to a southward shift in weather fronts from the Southern Ocean, which typically bring rain to southern Australia during winter and spring,” Hughes explained of the reduced precipitation.
As rain-inducing weather fronts drift away from land to the Southern Ocean, the risk of drought has increased, especially in agricultural heartlands such as the Murray Darling Basin in New South Wales.
Benjamin Henley, a research fellow in climate and water resources at the University of Melbourne, shares this view.
“Climate model projections suggest that with anthropogenic emissions, the storm track will shift south, reducing rainfall [over land] in the south,” he told DW.
But global warming could also be increasing the intensity of drought. “Higher temperatures during droughts, which influence evaporation rates, can be due to both the lack of rain itself [due to the reduced evaporative cooling], and the higher probability of warmer temperatures due to climate change,” Henley explained.
Adani’s claims to have secured finance questioned
Green Left Margaret Gleeson July 20, 2018
‘Karan Adani’s understatement of the cost of the rail link by almost $2.5 billion
is par for the course in Adani propaganda. He also claimed that all approvals
were in place and that work would commence immediately
after the rail finance was approved.
‘However, this is not the case.
There remain several obstacles before work at the mine can begin, including:
‘1. Federal approval for Adani’s proposed water scheme,
involving pumping 12.5 billion litres of water a year from the Suttor River to the mine.
The government has delayed its decision and asked Adani for more information.
‘2. A court challenge by a group of Wangan and Jagalingou people to a land-use agreement.
If the challenge to invalidate the agreement is successful, Adani would then require the
Queensland government to extinguish native title at the mine site.
‘3. A stop order application by a group of Juru people, amid a dispute about cultural heritage
in the vicinity of the Abbot Point coal terminal and a section of the rail link.
‘4. Finance to build an airstrip near the mine site for fly-in fly-out workers. …
‘5. Finance to build the rail line. …
‘6. The Queensland Labor government has imposed more than 240 conditions
on the Carmichael coalmine project, 132 of which relate to water. …
‘Federal Labor environment spokesperson Mark Butler, who opposes the mine,
was sceptical of claims Adani would soon have the finance required for the rail line. …
www.greenleft.org.au/content/adanis-claims-have-secured-finance-questioned
1 This month
of the week – Australians for War Powers Reform (AWPR)
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