Sounds like Fairfax

The Australian has really lost its way on this issue, supporting Malcolm Turnbull’s position on the ETS, referring to CO2 as “carbon pollution” – they really have swallowed the Rudd/Wong spin. And now they claim that voting against the ETS will be electoral suicide, based on a Newspoll survey… from September:

THE Coalition faces an electoral wipeout at next year’s federal election if the rebels led by Tony Abbott and Nick Minchin succeed in blocking the government’s climate change legislation.

The Coalition could lose at least 20 of its metropolitan seats, including those of its leader, Malcolm Turnbull, Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey and climate change critics Kevin Andrews and Andrew Robb, according to an analysis of Newspoll results.

…

Newspoll chief executive Martin O’Shannessy says the most worrying finding for the Coalition is that its voters aged 18 to 34 favour the government’s legislation by a margin of almost five to one. The Newspoll survey, taken in mid-September, showed that 75 per cent of Coalition voters in this age group backed the bill, while only 17 per cent were opposed.

This is in complete contradiction to what The Australian said back in July:

Just as Malcolm Turnbull has turned the Liberal Party towards accepting an ETS before the global climate change conference in Copenhagen in December, there has been a turnaround in public support for delaying finalisation of a carbon emissions trading scheme.

And while most people are still prepared to pay higher costs for petrol, electricity and gas to cut greenhouse gas emissions, support drops away rapidly as the expectations rise of higher costs.

…

Eight per cent of respondents to the survey, taken exclusively for The Australian last weekend, oppose an ETS outright, taking the total who oppose the scheme or want it delayed to 53 per cent.

Unfortunately, the public are wising up to the fraudulent manipulation of climate data to fit a political agenda (widespread), the true costs of the ETS to the Australian economy (huge), and the actual benefits of the ETS to the climate (none). They are also beginning to realise that the IPCC, which is Kevin Rudd’s and Penny Wong’s only source of information on climate science, is little more than an alarmist propaganda machine (read this PDF if you want to understand for yourself, and see this post from Watts Up With That: “IPCC has run its course“).

Defeating the ETS will bring on an election, and only an election campaign will allow the required investment in informing the Australian public about this harsh realities of this issue – we certainly can’t rely on the media.

Malcolm Turnbull

Dead Man Walking. Either he knows something the rest of us don’t or he really is a bit delusional about this, as there seems virtually no chance of Malcolm Turnbull surviving as leader, after half his frontbenchers deserted him last week. But despite that, he vows to continue:

[A] buccaneering Mr Turnbull swept into a press conference to declare he would not be bowed. In a performance widely praised for its resolve and clarity, Mr Turnbull said his party would lack credibility if it adopted a policy of no action on climate change.

“It is as simple as that,” he said. “We all recognise that most Australians expect their political leaders and their political parties to take effective action on climate change. [Not if you listen to talkback radio, they don’t – Ed]

“This is about the future of our planet and the future of our children and their children. [Really, he’s just channelling Kevin Rudd now – Ed]

“Australians expect their political leaders to act responsibly, to take action on climate change, to protect and safeguard the future of our planet, the future of our children. That is the challenge for us now and I am committed to it.”

Sources said that when Mr Turnbull arrived at work yesterday his email inbox was filled with messages of support praising his determination to stare down climate change deniers.

The messages were coming in at one a minute, with 95 per cent supportive, one source said.

“Forget for a minute what the party is saying,” said another. “Malcolm is right when he says that people want action on climate change and he is determined to argue that case. He won’t back down. He won’t resign.

“In the next couple of days he will take his campaign to the public and he will use their support next week. Don’t assume he will lose.” (source)

And, disappointingly, The Australian appears to be supporting Malcolm Turnbull on the need for an ETS, in an editorial today:

This week, Mr Turnbull was savaged for understanding what his opponents cannot comprehend, that whatever the science ultimately shows, Australians of all political persuasions believe humanity is responsible for global warming and the government has to act to reduce its impact. Mr Turnbull realises that the Rudd government’s ETS is not so different from what John Howard planned to put in place when he realised in his last term in office that the electorate wanted action on climate change. Mr Turnbull responded to the political realities by accepting it was the task of a responsible opposition to find the flaws in the government’s plan and demand improvements rather than reject it outright. He was right to do so. The Weekend Australian has always called for hard scientific evidence on human-induced global warming and has been criticised for publishing critics of the environmental orthodoxy. But the planet must be given the benefit of the doubt and the relatively low-cost ETS is the sort of market-based solution this newspaper has always advocated. Given the way the world is moving to limit emissions, it is important for Australia, as a major exporter of energy resources, to demonstrate an early commitment to cutting carbon pollution, if only to avoid the possibility of international sanctions [what?] in the future. (source)

Wrong, wrong, wrong – in so many ways, wrong. You say you want hard scientific evidence, but then “give the planet the benefit of the doubt” – have you not seen the CRU story? And now they are really toeing the Labor line by referring to carbon dioxide in the misleading manner Penny Wong and Kevin Rudd refer to it, as “carbon pollution”.

We all expect Fairfax and the ABC to peddle misinformation and alarmist propaganda about climate change. But there is little chance of the public truly understanding this issue when even The Australian does it too.

Arrogant contempt

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: for the good of the Liberals and for there ever to be a credible Opposition, Malcolm Turnbull must go.

He has demonstrated nothing but contempt for his colleagues, and for the grassroots views of ordinary Australians, who can see through the sham of Kevin Rudd’s ETS “abomination”, preferring his own personal and deeply green views on taking action on climate change. Being a former merchant banker, he can no doubt see the benefits to his own industry of the ETS – a licence to print money.

And, true to form, and despite ten resignations from his front bench, he still arrogantly believes that he can railroad the ETS through, and at the same time, pander to Kevin Rudd’s demands:

Despite the uproar within the Liberal Party, the ETS legislation, officially known as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill, might still pass the Senate.

Government Minister Anthony Albanese last night said there would be a vote on the ETS legislation at 3.45pm today, and he said Mr Turnbull had agreed to that yesterday.

Mr Turnbull said he had been assured by the Liberal Senate leadership they would not unnecessarily delay the Bill’s progress.

The Government needs just seven votes to get it through.

The crisis erupted just after Question Time yesterday when Mr Abbott and Senator Minchin – fiercely opposed to climate change measures – met Mr Turnbull and asked that he defer a vote on the ETS until 2010.

Mr Turnbull rejected the advice, and Mr Abbott handed in his notice of resignation from the Shadow Cabinet.

He was followed by Victorian MP Sophie Mirabella, Senator Minchin and Senator Eric Abetz. Liberal Whip in the Senate Stephen Parry also said he would not vote for the Bill.

Three junior Liberal shadow ministers yesterday resigned for the same reason – Matthias Corman, Mitch Fifield and Brett Mason.

“This is not about leadership,” said Mrs Mirabella – but that’s the way most of her colleagues saw it.

I cannot see how the Senate can possibly vote on the ETS at 3.45 today, except to reject it. The Liberals cannot, must not, allow this bill to pass.

Read it here.

PS. This story even made Watts Up With That – see here.