Extract from The Guardian
It's
hard to pin down exactly what prime minister Tony Abbott really
believes on climate change, but his policies could only have been
developed by someone who believes global warming is a hoax.
Australian prime
minister Tony Abbott fancies himself as a conservationist, but what does
he really believe? Photograph: Britta Campion/AAP
Perhaps nothing better exemplifies the spinelessness, hypocrisy and turpitude of prime minister Tony Abbott's position on climate change
than his comments on 3AW in December 2009: "Climate change is real. But
I think there are lots of legitimate questions about its extent, how
much humans are causing it, and certainly there is a very real and
necessary debate about the mechanism for dealing with it."
Abbott made this sneering reference to climate science and global climate change mitigation efforts one day after becoming the leader of the Liberal party, prevailing over Malcolm Turnbull by a single vote. Just a day before, the policy position of that party was support for an emissions trading scheme and acknowledgement of the dangers posed by global warming that had been long confirmed by the scientific community.
The events that precipitated Abbott's comments are important, because they reveal the character of the man who is now prime minister.
A month before, on 9 November, senior senator and climate denier Nick Minchin appeared on the Four Corners program on the ABC. Minchin suggested that a global left-wing conspiracy was behind climate change. Minchin encouraged the extreme fringe elements of the Liberal and National parties to speak out against Turnbull: "I don't mind being branded a sceptic about the theory that that human emissions and CO2 are the main driver of global change - of global warming. I don't accept that and I've said that publically. I guess if I can say it, I would hope that others would feel free to do so."
Several senators did so, including ultra-conservative South Australian Liberal senator Cory Bernardi and Victorian Liberal senator Julian McGuaran, who threatened to cross the floor against any emissions trading deal negotiated by Turnbull. The climate denier caucus delivered Abbott the votes he needed to defeat the moderate Turnbull
Having become leader by the grace of this extreme fringe element, Abbott was pandering the day after his elevation to Liberal leader.
But even in his pandering, Abbott was hedging. The polls showed that most Australians supported climate action, so he could not, like Minchin, come out directly and deny it was real. Instead, he used talking points imported from the USA designed to cast uncertainty and doubt on the reality of climate change, without denying it outright.
The comments received relatively little coverage, as they were caught up in the maelstrom of debate and coverage of the fallout of the Liberal leadership spill, the defeat of the carbon pollution reduction scheme legislation in the senate and the global disappointment in Copenhagen.
But Abbott's comments are illustrative. Their purpose was to dissimulate and deceive, to undermine the very notion that anything could or should be done to address or mitigate global warming.
Abbott's real views are hard to pin down.
Well before the leadership spill, Abbott has come out on the climate denialist side, saying in July 2009 "I am, as you know, hugely unconvinced by the so-called settled science on climate change." In October that year, he again used a climate denialist talking point to try to undermine confidence in the scientific community, saying to Channel 9 "I think that the science is far from settled". He repeated the lie about global cooling, which has been recently picked up by his chief business advisor Maurice Newman, saying:
Yet just a few months before, possibly before there was an inkling that he could become Liberal leader, Abbott said in a Sky News interview on 29 July: "If you want to put a price on carbon, why not just do it with a simple tax?"
In an interview on the 2UE radio station on 27 November, in the lead up to the leadership spill and just days after a rancorous caucus debate and a failed leadership bid by Kevin Andrews, Abbott said "You can't have a climate change policy without supporting this ETS at this time." He challenged Turnbull to the leadership on that same day.
Possibly the most revealing statement made by Abbott is his infamous climate change is "crap" line. He said to a small audience with a local reporter present in October 2009: "The argument [on climate change] is absolute crap... however, the politics of this are tough for us. 80 per cent of people believe climate change is a real and present danger."
Here, perhaps, we glimpse the truth behind Abbott's changing position on climate change action. It comes down, not values or morality, but "the politics".
The inconsistency, weasel words and hedging has continued over the last five years. During the most toxic periods of Abbott's scare campaign against the carbon price, he still declined to fully deny the reality of global warming. For example, he said on the ABC on 9 November 2011 "I think that climate change is real, mankind does make a contribution and we should have strong and effective policies to deal with it."
Yet a month earlier in an interview with Alan Jones on 2GB, he equated the scientific consensus on global warming to "theology" – a common denialist talking point:
More recently on the global stage, Abbott still vacillates between repeating denialist talking points and more moderate statements accepting the reality of climate change.
After meeting with Barack Obama for example on 13 June this year, Abbott said in an ABC radio interview that "I regard myself as a conservationist", yet later that day would front an audience in Texas to laud the unrestrained burning of fossil fuels:
None of this is surprising.
Abbott's chief business advisor Maurice Newman is a well-known climate denier. The main political sponsor of Abbott was outspoken climate denier Nick Minchin. Abbott's finance minister Mathias Cormann visited the USA to meet with conservative climate denialist think tanks like the Heritage Foundation.
Substantial donations are made to the Liberal party by the fossil fuel industry, almost $13 million according to Charles Sturt University academic Clive Hamilton. Major donors to the LNP since 2010 include Hancock Coal (owned by Gina Rinehart), Minerology (owned by former LNP Queensland president and life-member Clive Palmer), Caltex, Chevron, QCoal, Santos and Woodside. Also contributing to the LNP were energy retailers AGL, Origin Energy and Energy Australia.
Since becoming prime minister, Abbott has been very focused on delivering for this key business constituency. Just as, in 2009 after his victory over Turnbull, he fronted the media to cast doubt on the reality of global warming, after his election victory in 2013 he has set about dismantling Australia's carbon pricing and climate mitigation policy framework.
The fig-leaf for Abbott is his "direct action" policy, to pay polluters to reduce their carbon emissions. This is such a laughably inadequate policy, it could only be supported by a prime minister and political party that believes global warming to be a hoax.
Abbott has been described as a weather vane by his Liberal party colleagues in the past.
He has supported a carbon tax, then viciously opposed any price on carbon to appease a minority hard-core fringe. He has dismantled Australia's emissions trading scheme and internationally has allied with fossil-fuel addicted nations like Canada to block meaningful global action.
Yet while doing this, he boldly declares himself to be a conservationist and that he considers climate change to be a "significant problem".
There is no other conclusion to draw that on the issue of global warming, Abbott is a climate nihilist. He holds no conviction or moral position on this issue of international and intergenerational significance.
Only a climate nihilist could so viciously attack the measures introduced under the previous government that were designed to assist people on low incomes, prevent harm to peoples' livelihoods and the economy, and to (in some small way) mitigate the global climate catastrophe. On this issue, it appears that he believes in nothing and therefore cannot come to a moral judgement or sense any moral obligation to act.
The gesture of "direct action" is the most contemptible element of his nihilism.
Abbott made this sneering reference to climate science and global climate change mitigation efforts one day after becoming the leader of the Liberal party, prevailing over Malcolm Turnbull by a single vote. Just a day before, the policy position of that party was support for an emissions trading scheme and acknowledgement of the dangers posed by global warming that had been long confirmed by the scientific community.
The events that precipitated Abbott's comments are important, because they reveal the character of the man who is now prime minister.
A month before, on 9 November, senior senator and climate denier Nick Minchin appeared on the Four Corners program on the ABC. Minchin suggested that a global left-wing conspiracy was behind climate change. Minchin encouraged the extreme fringe elements of the Liberal and National parties to speak out against Turnbull: "I don't mind being branded a sceptic about the theory that that human emissions and CO2 are the main driver of global change - of global warming. I don't accept that and I've said that publically. I guess if I can say it, I would hope that others would feel free to do so."
Several senators did so, including ultra-conservative South Australian Liberal senator Cory Bernardi and Victorian Liberal senator Julian McGuaran, who threatened to cross the floor against any emissions trading deal negotiated by Turnbull. The climate denier caucus delivered Abbott the votes he needed to defeat the moderate Turnbull
Having become leader by the grace of this extreme fringe element, Abbott was pandering the day after his elevation to Liberal leader.
But even in his pandering, Abbott was hedging. The polls showed that most Australians supported climate action, so he could not, like Minchin, come out directly and deny it was real. Instead, he used talking points imported from the USA designed to cast uncertainty and doubt on the reality of climate change, without denying it outright.
The comments received relatively little coverage, as they were caught up in the maelstrom of debate and coverage of the fallout of the Liberal leadership spill, the defeat of the carbon pollution reduction scheme legislation in the senate and the global disappointment in Copenhagen.
But Abbott's comments are illustrative. Their purpose was to dissimulate and deceive, to undermine the very notion that anything could or should be done to address or mitigate global warming.
Abbott's real views are hard to pin down.
Well before the leadership spill, Abbott has come out on the climate denialist side, saying in July 2009 "I am, as you know, hugely unconvinced by the so-called settled science on climate change." In October that year, he again used a climate denialist talking point to try to undermine confidence in the scientific community, saying to Channel 9 "I think that the science is far from settled". He repeated the lie about global cooling, which has been recently picked up by his chief business advisor Maurice Newman, saying:
It seems that the world has cooled slightly since the late 1990s. One of the things which I think has disconcerted a lot of people is the evangelical fervour of the climate change alarmists because they haven't pursued their case with the kind of careful moderation that you normally associate with the best scientists.
Yet just a few months before, possibly before there was an inkling that he could become Liberal leader, Abbott said in a Sky News interview on 29 July: "If you want to put a price on carbon, why not just do it with a simple tax?"
In an interview on the 2UE radio station on 27 November, in the lead up to the leadership spill and just days after a rancorous caucus debate and a failed leadership bid by Kevin Andrews, Abbott said "You can't have a climate change policy without supporting this ETS at this time." He challenged Turnbull to the leadership on that same day.
Possibly the most revealing statement made by Abbott is his infamous climate change is "crap" line. He said to a small audience with a local reporter present in October 2009: "The argument [on climate change] is absolute crap... however, the politics of this are tough for us. 80 per cent of people believe climate change is a real and present danger."
Here, perhaps, we glimpse the truth behind Abbott's changing position on climate change action. It comes down, not values or morality, but "the politics".
The inconsistency, weasel words and hedging has continued over the last five years. During the most toxic periods of Abbott's scare campaign against the carbon price, he still declined to fully deny the reality of global warming. For example, he said on the ABC on 9 November 2011 "I think that climate change is real, mankind does make a contribution and we should have strong and effective policies to deal with it."
Yet a month earlier in an interview with Alan Jones on 2GB, he equated the scientific consensus on global warming to "theology" – a common denialist talking point:
ALAN JONES: Shouldn't there be open and intelligent debate in a science which is not settled?
TONY ABBOTT: Well, Alan, I certainly accept that there's been far too much theology and not enough proper scientific scepticism in this area, I certainly accept that...
More recently on the global stage, Abbott still vacillates between repeating denialist talking points and more moderate statements accepting the reality of climate change.
After meeting with Barack Obama for example on 13 June this year, Abbott said in an ABC radio interview that "I regard myself as a conservationist", yet later that day would front an audience in Texas to laud the unrestrained burning of fossil fuels:
Australia should be an affordable energy superpower, using nature's gifts to the benefit of our own people and the wider world. It is prudent to do what we reasonably can to reduce carbon emissions. But we don't believe in ostracising any particular fuel and we don't believe in harming economic growth. Energy consumption defines prosperity.
None of this is surprising.
Abbott's chief business advisor Maurice Newman is a well-known climate denier. The main political sponsor of Abbott was outspoken climate denier Nick Minchin. Abbott's finance minister Mathias Cormann visited the USA to meet with conservative climate denialist think tanks like the Heritage Foundation.
Substantial donations are made to the Liberal party by the fossil fuel industry, almost $13 million according to Charles Sturt University academic Clive Hamilton. Major donors to the LNP since 2010 include Hancock Coal (owned by Gina Rinehart), Minerology (owned by former LNP Queensland president and life-member Clive Palmer), Caltex, Chevron, QCoal, Santos and Woodside. Also contributing to the LNP were energy retailers AGL, Origin Energy and Energy Australia.
Since becoming prime minister, Abbott has been very focused on delivering for this key business constituency. Just as, in 2009 after his victory over Turnbull, he fronted the media to cast doubt on the reality of global warming, after his election victory in 2013 he has set about dismantling Australia's carbon pricing and climate mitigation policy framework.
The fig-leaf for Abbott is his "direct action" policy, to pay polluters to reduce their carbon emissions. This is such a laughably inadequate policy, it could only be supported by a prime minister and political party that believes global warming to be a hoax.
Abbott has been described as a weather vane by his Liberal party colleagues in the past.
He has supported a carbon tax, then viciously opposed any price on carbon to appease a minority hard-core fringe. He has dismantled Australia's emissions trading scheme and internationally has allied with fossil-fuel addicted nations like Canada to block meaningful global action.
Yet while doing this, he boldly declares himself to be a conservationist and that he considers climate change to be a "significant problem".
There is no other conclusion to draw that on the issue of global warming, Abbott is a climate nihilist. He holds no conviction or moral position on this issue of international and intergenerational significance.
Only a climate nihilist could so viciously attack the measures introduced under the previous government that were designed to assist people on low incomes, prevent harm to peoples' livelihoods and the economy, and to (in some small way) mitigate the global climate catastrophe. On this issue, it appears that he believes in nothing and therefore cannot come to a moral judgement or sense any moral obligation to act.
The gesture of "direct action" is the most contemptible element of his nihilism.
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