Extract from The Guardian
Taking a wrecking ball to science and public institutions might sound distinctly Trumpian, but as the Climate Change Authority announced their latest findings into the impact of delaying our energy transition to accommodate nuclear earlier this week, we all found ourselves with a front-row seat to see how this may play right here at home.
“Political appointments” to peak statutory bodies, or plum diplomatic postings, are frequently a topic of discussion within both the media and general population. But what happens when this conversation is flipped on its head and a senior bureaucrat is threatened with being terminated because they are seemingly actually allowing the independent institution they oversee to do its job?
Watching it unfold in real time is fascinating as the Coalition turns on one of their own and suggests Matt Kean could not be maintained as the chair of the independent Climate Change Authority. Why? Because the political machinery of the Coalition has taken offence at the authority’s assessment that their nuclear energy proposal makes it “virtually impossible” for Australia to reach net zero by 2050.
To be clear: the Climate Change Authority is an independent statutory body established in 2011 to provide “expert advice to the Australian government on climate change policy”.
Initially established under the Gillard government, the authority has survived numerous attempts to destabilise it, beginning with the Abbott government’s concerted campaign to abolish it and starve it of funding.
Fast forward to 2025, and the Coalition seems to be once again seeking to diminish this public agency by ensuring those appointed to key positions are not only political allies but also only believe in the same “facts” the Coalition does.
Science be damned. Independence be damned. Does the Coalition just want a body that will simply repackage their preferred headlines and dish them up to the rest of us as fact?
Herein lies the rub: surely we have a right to expect our politicians listen to facts and evidence as they develop nation- and life-changing policy rather than use our public agencies as political vehicles.
I don’t know Matt Kean personally, but as someone who has lived in New South Wales her entire life and saw him in action as the NSW energy and environment minister from 2019 to 2023, I’m confident he is someone who respects scientific evidence and the important role it plays in developing sound policy.
Unsurprisingly then, as the Climate Change Authority issued their dire warning earlier this week that delaying the overhaul of Australia’s grid to accommodate a switch to nuclear risks adding two billion tonnes of emissions to our atmosphere, I took that information on board as being grounded in fact.
After all, our statutory bodies are legally required to report accurately, based on evidence, without fear or favour when it comes to political ideology.
But as quickly as the report was released, the Coalition jumped to discredit the Climate Change Authority, arguing the finding was politically motivated rather than factually grounded.
This Trumpian and genuinely dystopian approach to politics and policy development cannot be allowed to encroach any further into Australia. We must call it out for what it is: cynical politics that puts party ideology before people.
Concerningly, as someone who has now sat in our parliament as an MP for the past three years, this is not the first time I’ve witnessed, or been involved in, an argument with someone from a major party around what a fact is and is not. You need look no further than the concerted campaign against the CSIRO.
Indeed, not that long ago I had a fellow parliamentarian argue with me that a fact is only relevant in the context that it is given – his exact words: “Facts are all situational.” My response: “The world is round: when is that not a fact?”
As the 2025 election bears down on us, I can’t help but think this latest attempt to discredit and cast aspersions on an independent authority is the first of many similar attacks we will see as election day draws closer.
With public trust in both politicians and our government at an all-time low, it is more important than ever to ensure we are doing all we can to build confidence in the bodies that are ultimately meant to be beyond political influence: because then, evidence from such a body would be something to be valued and celebrated. Rather than something to be questioned.
As my grandmother used to say: we are all entitled to our own opinions. But we are not entitled to our own facts.
-
Kylea Tink is the outgoing independent federal member for North Sydney
No comments:
Post a Comment