Via Andrew Bolt. South Australian Senator Cory Bernardi sets out the painful sacrifices we will make if Australia signs a binding treaty at Copenhagen:
Dear colleagues
As some of you may be aware, the Rudd Government, is being asked to sign a treaty at the Copenhagen climate conference. Most Australians know nothing about the consequences of our nation agreeing to this draft treaty.
The detail of the draft treaty has been hidden away and only now are we becoming aware of the implications for our economy, society and sovereignty if Australia signs it in a month’s time.
By signing this treaty, we are effectively putting aspects of Australia’s sovereignty, economy and future prosperity in the hands of an unelected body that is not accountable to the Australian people.
On 3 November I raised questions about the draft treaty on my blog and the initial potential $7 billion annual cost to taxpayers. In response I have received hundreds of emails from all over Australia expressing their concerns.
I note that Alan Jones, Andrew Bolt and Janet Albrechtson have also commented on this matter.
Below are some of the points that have come to light recently about the Copenhagen draft treaty (phrases in brackets are yet to be finalised):
- The treaty will require developed countries, including Australia, to “compensate for damage to the LDCs’ economy and also compensate for lost opportunities, resources, lives, land and dignity, as many will become environmental refugees.” (LDC refers to developing countries).
- According to the current draft, the scale of this financial support “must be [at least USD 67 billion] [in the range of USD 70-140 billion] per year.”
- The treaty also states that “[Financial resources of the ‘Convention Adaptation Fund’][may][shall] include: (a) Assessed contributions [of at least 0.7% of the annual GDP of developed country Parties]…” That equates to about $7 billion a year from the Australian economy.
- The funds will be managed by a board where possibly only one of the nine seats will be held by industrialised nations – the nations that will be contributing the most money. In reality, Australia will have little or no say as to how our annual $7 billion contribution is spent.
- The treaty also makes provision for the board to “impose financial penalties, at a minimum of ten times the market price of carbon, for any emissions in excess of the level implied by the emissions reduction commitment.” So the treaty gives the board the power to take more money from Australian taxpayers for excess emissions, which could run into the billions depending on the price of carbon.
- Fines can also be imposed on countries like Australia for “non-compliance…with their commitments to reduce emissions and provide support in the form of financial resources, technology transfer and capacity-building.”
- The treaty will create a new government: “The scheme for the new institutional arrangement under the Convention will be based on three basic pillars: government; facilitative mechanism; and financial mechanism.”
Has anyone stopped to realise how much it will cost to run and administer this new government?
This is what is being discussed by the negotiators. This is not conjecture or speculation, it’s in the very wording of the treaty.
These words will be on the negotiating table at Copenhagen and they are getting closer to becoming reality.
And yet we’ve heard virtually nothing about these details until now. Why weren’t the Australian people informed about this earlier?
This is a draft that presumably both Kevin Rudd and Penny Wong have read, so they should be aware of what they are getting Australia into. And yet they have said nothing about these requirements.
It begs the question: if Kevin Rudd and Penny Wong have failed to bring these details to light, what else might they be hiding in their climate change policy agenda?
Surely the Australian public, as the ones that will be footing the annual cost under this treaty, have the right to know about the consequences of signing at Copenhagen. Just as they need to know about the terrible cost of their proposed new CPRS tax.
It is worth noting that while legislative change related to the treaty would have to be debated in Parliament, Kevin Rudd has the executive authority to take the initial step of signing the treaty and committing Australia to the above requirements – without the consent of Parliament.
The Coalition needs to take a stand in order to protect Australia’s sovereignty and economic prosperity. Signing this treaty without full knowledge of the consequences and implications is irresponsible in the extreme.
We need to voice our strong opposition to this treaty as part of exposing the Kevin Rudd as being more interested in ingratiating himself with the international community than looking after Australia’s national interest.
The Australian people deserve nothing less from the coalition.
You can download a copy of the draft treaty at the following link http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2009/awglca7/eng/inf02.pdf
Should you have any questions please contact me.
Regards
Cory
Australian Climate Madness 
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