Coalition will force double dissolution on carbon tax

3 October, 2011 by

Greg Hunt

As we would expect, the Coalition will not allow the undemocratic “poison pill” tactics of Labor to stand in the way of its right to repeal the carbon tax legislation if (when) in government:

THE Coalition will go to a double dissolution election if it wins government and Labor baulks at repealing the carbon tax and its associated compensation, opposition climate change spokesman Greg Hunt says.

But Mr Hunt has declared he expects Labor to eventually support the Coalition’s push to unravel the Gillard government’s climate change policy, if it loses the next federal poll.

Speaking on Sky News’s Australian Agenda yesterday, Mr Hunt said doing otherwise would be “an act of almost breathtaking democratic arrogance”. Indicating the opposition had been busy behind the scenes building its election policy platform, Mr Hunt said he had been up till 5am one night last week trawling through previous years’ budget papers for viable savings.

The Coalition has confirmed it is looking for savings of about $70 billion to fund its policies.

“We are preparing for an election at any possible time, so we are ready to go in case the instability in government translates to an election,” he said.

“If there is more time, we can do more work. But we are ready for an election because we believe this government is unstable.” (source)

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Quotes of the Day

2 October, 2011 by

Quote of the Day

Writing in The Conversation, Prof Steven Sherwood must have access to some very ancient observers of Canadian ice:

“The real significance of this, in my view, is that this ice has reportedly been there for thousands of years.” (source)

Reportedly? Who was noting the ice extent in Canada thousands of years ago?

And from the press release, Derek Mueller says:

“The ice shelves were formed and sustained in a different climate than what we have now. As they disappear, it implies we are returning to conditions unseen in the Arctic for thousands of years.” (source)

So thousands of years ago the climate was different, without any help from man-made CO2 or Stone Age SUVs? Who’d of thunk it?

Watts Up With That? has more on the story here.

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ACM is 3 years old today

1 October, 2011 by

Post-carbon tax birthday cake

Three years of Australian Climate Madness, 2,100 posts, nearly 8,000 comments, and now over 5,000 fans on Facebook.

Despite the fact that we have seen the back of Kevin Rudd, the ETS and Malcolm Turnbull, we are still staring down the barrel of a pointless carbon tax, the sole purpose of which is to appease the Greens and keep Julia Gillard in the Lodge. There is much work still to do.

Just a reminder that you can subscribe to the ACM email – you will receive at most ONE email each day when there is new content on the site. Just use the subscribe box at the top of the right sidebar.

Thanks to all my readers for your support!

P.S. Want to check out what ACM looked like in October 2009? Click here.

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Kyoto Clean Development Mechanism "basically a farce"

1 October, 2011 by

The UN at work

Why does this not surprise me in the least? Virtually everything remotely connected with the UN is “basically a farce”, but this disaster has been exposed more comprehensively than most. As Nature reports:

Critics have long questioned the usefulness of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which was established under the Kyoto Protocol. It allows rich countries to offset some of their carbon emissions by investing in climate-friendly projects, such as hydroelectric power and wind farms, in developing countries. Verified projects earn certified emission reductions (CERs) — carbon credits that can be bought and sold, and count towards meeting rich nations’ carbon-reduction targets.

But a diplomatic cable published last month by the WikiLeaks website reveals that most of the CDM projects in India should not have been certified because they did not reduce emissions beyond those that would have been achieved without foreign investment. Indian officials have apparently known about the problem for at least two years.

“What has leaked just confirms our view that in its present form the CDM is basically a farce,” says Eva Filzmoser, programme director of CDM Watch, a Brussels-based watchdog organization. The revelations imply that millions of tonnes of claimed reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions are mere phantoms, she says, and potentially cast doubt over the principle of carbon trading. “In the face of these comments it is no wonder that the United States has backed away from emission trading,” Filzmoser says.

…

[Yet] on the evidence of discussions at the meeting, most of the carbon-offset projects in India fail to meet the CDM requirements set by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The cable also describes the UN’s validation and registration process as “arbitrary”. 

Once again, this kind of revelation demonstrates that climate mitigation policies are nothing more than pointless gimmicks, moving billions of dollars around the globe for minimal or no environmental benefit whatsoever.

Commenter on the article William Eschenbach sums it up:

I love the CDM. It takes money from people in Europe who wouldn’t dream of allowing a hydroelectric dam to be built in their country, and gives it to China to build … of course … hydroelectric dams.

Couldn’t be a better symbol for the whole climate madness.

Read it here.

(h/t Bryan H)

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