Liberal senators to cross floor on ETS vote

26 November, 2009 by

From The Australian:

AT least 12 of the 32 Liberals sitting in the Senate appear to be preparing to cross the floor on the emissions trading bills when a Senate vote is finally held, either on Saturday or early next week.

With the five Nationals senators, five Greens senators and two independent senators also planning to vote no — for a variety of reasons — there could be 24 or more of the 76 senators voting against the bills.

At least one Liberal senator, Mary Jo Fisher, will “actively abstain” — registering her dissent not by voting “no” but by sitting at the back of the chamber.

Frontbench senators Nick Minchin and Eric Abetz were absent from votes on the procedural motions yesterday.

But despite their strong opposition to the ETS, as frontbench members they will be expected to vote for the amendments negotiated between Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull and the Rudd government, and also for the final bill.

At least some senators can see the pointlessness of the ETS…

Read it here.

Filed Under: Climate Tagged With: ,

Quote of the Day: George Monbiot

26 November, 2009 by

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day

George Monbiot on denial (but slips in a Denier Alert at the same time):

I have seldom felt so alone. Confronted with crisis, most of the environmentalists I know have gone into denial. The emails hacked from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia, they say, are a storm in a tea cup, no big deal, exaggerated out of all recognition. It is true that climate change deniers [!!] have made wild claims which the material can’t possibly support (the end of global warming, the death of climate science). But it is also true that the emails are very damaging.

The response of the greens and most of the scientists I know is profoundly ironic, as we spend so much of our time confronting other people’s denial. Pretending that this isn’t a real crisis isn’t going to make it go away.

Read it here. (h/t Andrew Bolt)

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"Hide the decline"

25 November, 2009 by

Filed Under: Climate Tagged With: ,

Climate Madness: Turnbull stays, ETS inches closer

25 November, 2009 by

The effect of the ETS on climate

The effect of the ETS on climate

So here we are, Australian Climate Madness prevails, as Malcolm Turnbull survives the leadership challenge, and the ETS inches ever closer to becoming law.

So as we enter into this new chapter in Australian stupidity, let’s remind ourselves of all the wonderful things the ETS will do:

  • nothing for climate
  • nothing for global temperatures
  • nothing for local temperatures
  • nothing for the Arctic
  • nothing for polar bears
  • nothing for the drought
  • nothing for the Great Barrier Reef
  • nothing for Kakadu
  • nothing for Tuvalu and all the other sinking islands
  • nothing for the ringtail possum and other cuddly creatures
  • nothing for bushfires and heatwaves
  • in fact, nothing for anything even remotely related to the climate

On the other hand:

  • everything to damage Australia’s economy
  • everything to damage Australia’s competitiveness
  • everything to increase the cost of living for ordinary Australians
  • everything to make the poorest in society worse off
  • everything to damage emissions intensive industries
  • everything to ensure that our industries move offshore
  • everything to create more unemployment
  • everything to raise electricity, gas and food prices
  • everything to ensure there isn’t a double dissolution
  • everything to make Kevin Rudd look big at Copenhagen
  • everything to assist a pointless global “deal”
  • everything to advance the cause of global government and global wealth distribution
  • everything to advance Kevin Rudd’s selfish aim to be UN Secretary General in 2015

Have I missed anything there? Leave a comment if I have.

Filed Under: Climate Tagged With: , , ,

Turnbull must go

25 November, 2009 by

The Three Stooges

The Three Stooges

Having watched the press conference by Malcolm Turnbull, Julie Bishop and Ian Macfarlane last night, and listened to extracts of it again this morning, Turnbull’s actions in ignoring the will of the party room and agreeing to the ETS amendments proposed by Labor is one of the most extraordinary betrayals I have ever witnessed in politics.

Turnbull refused to comment on the numbers in the party room, but sources indicate that a majority of the party room spoke against accepting the amendments, with numbers approximately 41 – 33 against the government’s proposals.

But then Turnbull pulls a trick. The usual procedure is for the shadow cabinet to vote on the issue. This they did – in favour of accepting the amendments. The next step is for the issue then to be put to the party room – so according to this, it should have been rejected.

But what Turnbull did was add in the votes of the shadow cabinet to the party room result, thereby claiming that the “party room” was in favour, at the same time including Nationals front benchers in the shadow cabinet (who were actually against it), but excluding Nationals back benchers, who were also against it!

It was an astonishing display. Turnbull just kept repeating the phrase “I’m the leader and I’ve made the call”, so desperate is he to satisfy his own green tendencies against the will of the party room. All I can say is, I hope you won’t be leader for long.

To those in the Liberal party who voted against this climate madness, you cannot let this stand. You know what you need to do.

There is acres of coverage on this in the media as you would expect:

And for a bit of light relief, a Tale of Two Headlines, next to each other in this mornings reading list:

I know which one is nearer the truth…

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Climate Sceptics protest Sydney Wednesday 25 November, 12pm

24 November, 2009 by

Martin Place, between Castlereagh and Elizabeth Streets, 12pm

Climate Sceptics protest

Climate Sceptics protest

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Coalition chaos

24 November, 2009 by

WTF?

WTF?

Well I’m not exactly sure if anybody knows what the hell happened tonight. Some reports are saying the party room backed the amendments, others say that a majority were against, some say Turnbull stormed out, others say there will be a leadership spill on Thursday. If anyone out there knows, please send an email or leave a comment, and enlighten me!

I’ve had enough for one day…

Andrew Bolt has some further information:

Backbenchers are furious at Turnbull for claiming in the press conference just finished that he had the support of a clear majority of members for agreeing to Rudd’s compromise bill.

“The reality is that he didn’t,” one told me. “He lied.”

It’s a mystery how Turnbull could claim support when some 41 of the 74 to speak at the meeting opposed a deal with Rudd. Those against included the respected Andrew Robb, who until his illness was the climate spokesman. It’s this opposition to an ETS that makes Joe Hockey, who supports it, an unlikely starter.

Turnbull is only a 50-50 chance to survive on Thursday, but his opponents are sure they’ll get him on a second challenge if they don’t blast him out at the first.

But does this sink Rudd’s bill? Depends how many Liberals cross the floor and vote for it, defying either Abbott or Andrews. But I wouldn’t be banking on it yet.

Read it here.

Sky News report that Turnbull pulled a sneaky trick by adding the shadow cabinet numbers to the party room ETS supporters, thereby securing the win (i.e. Adding the shadow cabinet to the 33 in favour to make it more than 41).

It’s ironic that Turnbull has resorted to fiddling the figures to push through the ETS, just like the warmists at CRU fiddled the temperatures to keep global warming alive.

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Another leadership spill as Turnbull defies partyroom

24 November, 2009 by

Via BlackBerry – The North Queensland Register is reporting that there is to be a leadership spill at 8pm after Malcolm Turnbull announced he would press ahead, despite a majority of the party room speaking against it.

Here’s the link:

http://nqr.farmonline.com.au/news/nationalrural/agribusiness-and-general/political/yes-to-ets-turnbull-defies-divided-party/1686600.aspx?storypage=0

More to follow.

Filed Under: Climate

UPDATED: Leadership spill in Coalition party room? – No

24 November, 2009 by

Just listening to ABC Sydney 702 and there is talk of a leadership spill on the instigation of Wilson Tuckey… more to follow.

Apparently it was raised, but didn’t happen…

Andrew Robb’s change of position has sent shockwaves through the partyroom, however.

Still no news @ 7pm. Out of contact intermittently from now until 9.30.

Filed Under: Climate Tagged With: , ,

Monbiot: "I was too trusting" – sincerity or sick joke?

24 November, 2009 by

The well-known alarmist journalist on the post-CRU world:

Screen shot 2009-11-24 at 1.50.34 PM

Read full article here (quote is in the comments). (h/t Andrew Bolt)

Many people have commented that this is just a sick joke from Monbiot… I’m starting to think they might be right…

Filed Under: Climate
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