Today in Crikey Bernard Keane suggested that many young Australians were well and truly fed up with the government’s approach on climate change. In fact, he contended, many of them despair of any politicians achieving anything meaningful on the issue:
Don’t underestimate the sense of disillusionment and even anger among some young Australians, who don’t see this as an environmental issue but one of survival. The protests will become less peaceful, the actions more extreme and more disruptive, the longer politicians treat climate change as a playground for intra- and inter-party political games.
Keane pointed to actions to halt production at coal mines in the Illawarra (and we’ve already seen protests like this in Newcastle and the LaTrobe Valley in Victoria) as a sign that things are getting increasingly desperate. But for those of you who are really, truly, genuinely concerned about your future and you’re willing to back your concerns with direct action, there is an alternative available to you that should prove to be much more effective than just blockading a few trucks on the way to the coal mine.
You need to take this man out of the political picture.
Here’s a quote from Senator Steve Fielding today in response to the Greens’ proposed amendments to the government’s CPRS:
“I don’t know what planet the Greens are on, but by the look of their ‘Safe Climate Bill’ they look like they’re lost in space…
“If [Greens leader] Bob Brown and his hippy friends really believed in their cause, they’d ride their bikes to Parliament House instead of using the Commonwealth’s petrol-guzzling V8s.
“If we did what the Greens propose, Australia would no longer exist because there’d be no industries left to drive our economy.”
Another series of searingly insightful political statements from the man who once stood in the middle of a busy intersection in his jocks in order to drive home a point.
So kids, if you’re really serious about climate change, don’t tie yourselves to the nearest coal fired power station, tie this bloke to it instead.
For any chance of promoting meaningful dialogue, and subsequent action – fast — on climate change in Canberra, this sausage has to be excluded from the conversation. Preferably before hell freezes over.
9 Comments
If Steve Fielding could be convinced to abstain from voting (because he doesn’t understand the issues and is out of his depth) then a deal could be done.
Unsurprisingly, Steve Fielding’s comments almost exactly mirror the redneck taunts by a small group of locals in Helensburgh over the weekend. It is particularly reminiscent off a banner made by a group of drunk-by-11am-teenagers that said ‘F[#*]k Off Greenys’ (125 years of inhaling coal dust doesn’t appear to do much for literacy).
I’ve got better things to do with my time than go within in inch of Fielding, like a pissed 16 year old boy it’s probably just as useful to ignore him till he goes away.
Exactly right. Steve Fielding had his media release out too quickly following the Green’s announcement to have given any of the proposals any serious consideration.
I was confused as to why he did put out his own media release – apart from some mindless publicity seeking. He didn’t offer any alternative proposal of his own – just some kneejerk reaction full of nonsense that didn’t do anyone any good.
In the current situation where the majority of “climate skeptics” are grudgingly accepting that climate change is happening but are now taking up the call that it’s all too expensive and economically distructive to do anything – what is left just below the high tide line in the climate deniers camp is the refuse of the truly obtuse, crazed or fanatical – of which Fielding is one.
That’s a very good idea EP, I wonder if it could be done?. Would certainly be a game-changer
Wow … imagine if pollies abstained from voting on any bill they didn’t understand and/or hadn’t read.
The mind boggles.
Fielding is the number one prime example about why the first year of Tertiary education must include a subject from the sciences and humanities. It is his singular ‘engineering’ degree approach to everything that rules over every decision he makes.
He doesn’t (after nearly 6 years) understand his day job as a Senator or how the Senate works.
The best thing Victorians can do next election is simple. It doesn’t matter who you put first, just make sure Fielding is last on the Senate ticket. That’s better than tieing yourself to a coal fired power station.
Getting rid of Fielding only has value if Labor and the Greens will ‘do a deal’.
The Greens will demand a CPRS that reduces carbon emissions. Labor shows no sign of wanting this. As Ben Eltham at New Matilda says at http://newmatilda.com/2009/10/13/last-some-realistic-climate-policy-ideas ‘Why would Kevin Rudd negotiate with the Greens, when merely threatening a double-dissolution election on climate change is just about tearing the Liberal Party apart?’
Besides if it came to a CPRS with real effect the Labor party would start to tear itself apart too – It’s hard to see any True Belief in AGW from Labor’s tokenistic actions so far, they’re just politically savvy enough to be seen to be doing something.
Agreeing to a deal with the Greens would let the Libs off the hook and require measures many in Labor would not support. They’re more likely to do a deal with the Libs eventually for a low impact CPRS.
There’s 15kg of carbon ready for deep sequestration.
Surely the best way to remove Fielding from his strategic position in the Senate would be to bring on a double dissolution. This would require political pressure to be placed on the Labor party to not accept the Liberal’s amendments. Considering that the Liberal’s amendments main effect is to weaken the ability of the CPRS to meet its already weak targets, opposing them is something that people should be doing anyway.