Abbott jeopardizing Australia’s economic future

While Tony Abbott continues playing marbles with his coal industry mates, the adults are getting on with the serious business of tackling climate change.
China’s coal consumption is beginning to decline and its fleet of coal power stations is now operating at 54% capacity. For the past two years, China’s investment in renewables has exceeded investment in coal. Similarly the economies of the US, Germany, the UK and Japan have continued to grow despite shifting investment from fossil fuels to renewables.
The uncertainty surrounding Abbott’s ill-informed attempts to kill off the Renewable Energy Target have resulted in a 35% drop in renewables investment and in particular, an 88% loss in investment in large-scale projects like 24hr solar thermal power stations and wind farms.
Of the hundreds of thousands of jobs created in the global renewable energy sector, Australia’s share fell sharply.
If we do not rapidly shift our investment away from coal and CSG and into renewables, we are not only shirking our climate responsibilities and investing in economic and environmental disasters, we are also missing out on the booming global renewable energy market.
Australia can – and must – move quickly to zero carbon energy. As outlined in the Zero Carbon Australia 2020 plan, we could make the shift to 100% renewables in a decade using wind and solar thermal with storage. The $370 billion cost, less than 4% of GDP, would reap fossil fuel savings of $1.6 trillion by 2040.
This bold plan will help end the global stalemate on climate action, make Australia a world leader in the low-carbon economy of the future, create 80,000 high-quality ongoing jobs (more than the fossilenergy supply workforce) and build lucrative export industries.
Grow up Abbott – our economic future lies in renewables.

Don’t expect your electricity bill to fall if the Carbon Tax is abolished

The proposed axing of the Carbon Tax by the Abbott government is going to make Australia look very silly indeed.

Rather than accept that wealthy industrialised countries have a responsibility to take the lead on climate action, Abbott’s policy is to wait for the rest of the world; an approach that is not only misguided but seriously outdated.

 

At the time of the 2013 Australian election, carbon trading already existed in 33 countries and 18 sub-nation states. Recently Barak Obama unveiled regulation requiring US power plants to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 and the planet’s other climate-polluting giant China is proposing to cap emissions by 2016.

Abbott and his far-right denialist colleagues and advisors now have nowhere to turn. Of all the lies that swept him into office, even the lie that abolishing the carbon tax will save households a fortune in energy bills, has been exposed.

Only about 10% of recent electricity price rises are related to the carbon tax. The majority of the increases have been to pay for massive poles and wires upgrades based on a predicted increase in demand that has never eventuated. Consumers are now paying dearly for network upgrades, half of which were unnecessary. The fossil-fuelled generators and electricity distributers now find themselves in a downward spiral. As prices rise, more consumers install solar systems and electricity demand continues to fall, spreading the unnecessary network costs across an ever-shrinking market. Even without feed-in tariffs, this trend will continue as battery storage prices plummet over the next couple of years and households choose to go off-grid.

With the rooftops of the southeast now the 4th biggest power station in Queensland, householders are making rational economic and moral decisions to move to clean energy.

Meanwhile Abbott moves to arrest the declining profits of the big energy sector by abolishing the carbon price, reducing the Renewable Energy Target and maligning the feed-in tariffs that catalysed the advance of affordable solar systems.

 

If the tax is axed, it will be a short-lived absence. A price on carbon is inevitable, necessary for renewable investment and expected by industry.

Despite the desperate efforts of the far-right, the steamroller of renewables is about to crush them into an oblivion not unlike the pages of a pointless and long-forgotten medieval text.

The conservative white male effect – ideology before evidence

Flushed with conservative governments, Australia is now suffering from an overdose of the CWM (conservative white male) effect, which elevates ideology above evidence-based policy. 

With a diminished social and environmental conscience, our current batch of conservative governments are pushing science, the environment, women, public servants, minority groups and the disadvantaged to one side in their march toward private wealth and public squalor.

 

Queensland has now had 18 months of conservative rule and the tally of ideologically motivated policies and legislation continues to rise.

 

 

Firstly, by repealing legislation to fluoridate all council water supplies, the oral health of thousands of kids is put at risk. Rather than heed the scientific evidence that fluoride in drinking water is a safe and effective way to reduce tooth decay (NHMRC, 2007), the LNP government has listened to the misinformed anti-fluoridation lobby.

 

Nudgee MP Jason Woodforth believes fluoride to be a ‘brain-altering poison’, presumably based on gross misinterpretation of a Harvard study. Meanwhile his body building supplement store sells a growth factor linked to heart, lung and liver damage.

 

Next, because Queensland’s natural beauty isn’t attracting enough visitors, a plan for seven casino’s will apparently remedy this. It doesn’t matter that 40% of casino revenue (Productivity Commission, 2010), will come from the one in six local pokie players who are problem gamblers, and whose actions impact the lives of between 5 and 10 others, with a social cost to the Australian community currently running at $4.7 billion. “Don’t you worry about that.” 

Then there is the short-sighted thinking in regard to school closures. It is not uncommon for school populations to fluctuate over time and a simple change in school leadership can often boost enrolments. If sold on the open market, there is every chance that school sites will be used for residential development, creating a demand for new local schools. It’s not rocket science.

The environment is also a big loser, with a retreat from solar investment, watering-down of tree-clearing laws, potential logging in national parks and the removal of the community’s rights to oppose mining developments. We’ve been here before. I remember being told: ‘You don’t tell the frogs anything before you drain the swamp.’

With little scientific study of the environmental impact of CSG and an estimated 65 new coal mines and gas projects seeking approval from the Queensland Government, the ‘cutting of red and green tape’ puts farmland, water resources, the bush and the reef at immediate risk.

And, of course conservative governments always promise to get tough on crime. Attorney General Jarrod Bleijie’s answer is to ignore expert legal advice and legislate to persecute motorcycle gang members rather than provide police and the legal system the resources to prosecute criminal elements.

The law, not the state, should judge criminals for what they’ve done, not who they are. Based purely on ideology, the new laws are unlikely to be an effective deterrent or survive a high court challenge. Police concerns for their own lives are well-founded – murder appears to be a lesser crime than membership of a motorcycle club.

The story would not be complete without some obligatory worker bashing. Not only have thousands lost their jobs through public servant sackings; injured workers now have reduced rights to claim damages through WorkCover. A 5% threshold impairment level means that half of all workers injured at work will no longer be compensated for the actions of negligent employers, with little reduction in premiums for small business. 

 

Newman’s promise to “make this great state a can-do place once more” is a déjà vu experience for those of us who lived through the Bjelke-Peterson era – a period which tore the fledgling intellectual, creative, environmental and social heart out of Queensland.

Direct inaction

Women are not the only losers in Tony Abbott’s new cabinet. Not only has the Ministry of Climate Change been scrapped; science doesn’t even rate a mention.

If we ever had any doubt about the Coalition’s attitude toward global warming and rational decision making, it is now very clear. They have demonstrated their absolute disdain for science and evidence-based policy.

Tony Abbot has pledged to repeal the Carbon Tax as the first order of business for his government. His reference to the tax as “toxic” demonstrates his lack of understanding of the greenhouse potency of this “invisible substance”.

The Coalition will no longer finance clean energy projects, will review the 20% renewable energy target and axe the Climate Commission, the independent body that provides scientific information on climate change to the public.

In the battle against global warming, what’s left in Australia’s arsenal? Not a thing. What message does this send to the world from the largest per-capita emitters of greenhouse gases?

Despite the Coalition’s policy to deliver a miserly 5% reduction by 2020, Tony Abbott has made it clear he will not spend more than $3.2 billion over four years. A study by the Climate Institute concludes that the Coalition’s Direct Action policy will result in an 8-10% increase in emissions by 2020 (45% by 2050) and cost $50 billion in subsidies to the energy industry.

In response to a Climate Commission report warning that extreme weather was made more likely by climate change, Abbott said: “When the Carbon Tax goes, all of those bureaucracies will go and I suspect we might find that the particular position you refer to goes with them.”

Wow! By repealing the Carbon Tax, Tony Abbott is going to put a stop to extreme weather.

Despite the pretence of bipartisan support for action, the deniers are clearly at the helm. Coalition front bencher Malcolm Turnbull recently stated that we will eventually have to put a price on carbon, in contrast to his leader’s election commitment.

Recent surveys indicate that over 60% of Australians want their governments to do more to tackle climate change. Despite a cloud of misinformation, it appears that the majority accept the consensus among climate scientists that the current phase of global warming is caused by human activity. If the carbon tax was used as a double-dissolution trigger, the result could be interesting.

History will judge the Government harshly for ignoring and doing away with respected science institutions. However, the Australian people may take history into their own hands and  judge the Government, promptly.

Global warming is real – denial won’t change the facts.

Global warming deniers don’t like the term “denier”, but it fits. They would prefer the term “sceptic” but Global warming sceptics are in fact very rare.

Scepticism is having a questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts. All scientists are sceptics – not making claims without supporting evidence and systematically seeking evidence before supporting or debunking the claims of others.

Climate science is a very complex field, involving the long-term study of interactions between the atmosphere, oceans, lakes, land, snow, ice, forests, and the effects of the sun, volcanoes, air pollutants and more. To be sceptical of human-caused global warming, you need the expertise of a climate scientist in order to interpret the evidence and find it wanting.

While there are still a few climate scientists who are sceptical that we are causing global warming, their numbers are declining as the sheer weight of evidence becomes so compelling. Currently less than 3% of scientists working in the fields of climate science question that humans are the dominant cause of global warming since the mid 20th century.

Deniers are non-experts who pose as sceptics, refusing to accept the consensus conclusions of climate scientists. They typically employ rhetorical tactics to give the appearance of argument or legitimate debate, when in reality there is none.

Most people are prepared to defer to the judgment of experts and they trust climate scientists on the subject of global warming. However, vested interests have long realized this and engaged in a campaign to misinform the public about the scientific consensus.

A memo leaked in 2002 advised US Republicans, “Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly. Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific uncertainty a primary issue in the debate”

Gina Rinehart played a part in this campaign; sponsoring prominent denier Christopher Monkton to travel to Australia, spreading his conspiracy theories that human-caused climate change is a left-wing plot to bring down the West.

The media has assisted in this public misconception, with most climate stories “balanced” with a “sceptical” perspective. However, this makes 3% seem like 50%. In trying to achieve “balance”, the media has actually created a very unbalanced perception of reality.

As a result, people believe scientists are still split about what’s causing global warming, and therefore there is not nearly enough public support or motivation to solve the problem.

There are no national or major scientific institutions anywhere in the world that dispute the theory of human-caused climate change. Not one.

In the field of climate science, the consensus is undeniable: human activities are causing climate change.

Global Warming Denial is Big Tobacco all over again, but this time the stakes are much higher.