Ackerman and Devine on the carbon tax woes

6 March, 2011 by

Backroom deals

Two great reads for a Sunday morning. Firstly, Piers Ackerman in the Telegraph:

IT would be easy to dismiss New England independent Tony Windsor as a whining, whinging wimp and a rat, but he has now assumed national importance in the carbon tax debate.

He has had undeserved relevance thrust upon him.

Last week, Windsor earned the opprobrium of all sensible MPs and public figures around the nation when he connived with Channel 7’s Mark Riley to publicise a purported threat he claimed to have received.

In what was one of the more disgraceful media moments in a year already marred just two months in by Riley’s attempt to smear Opposition leader Tony Abbott with a false and innuendo-laden report on the death of a young Australian soldier, Windsor said on Tuesday he had received his first-ever death threat.

It didn’t help that Riley’s report added false claims about the shooting of a US congresswoman, dishonestly implying that the accused in that horror had been influenced by so-called shock-jocks and right-wing political commentators.

“You’re a f****** liar, a dog, a rat … I hope you die, you bastard,” a caller said, apparently in relation to Windsor’s role in assisting the Gillard Government develop its global-warming strategy as a member of its Multi Party Climate Change Committee. (source)

And then Miranda Devine in the Herald Sun:

YOU have to feel for Julia Gillard, the grand negotiator.

Saddled with a minority Government, she has to appease the Greens and accommodate the silky Bob Brown, while throwing a few bones to Nick Xenophon and Andrew Wilkie and buttering up the turncoat independents Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott, mopping their brows when the heat gets too much.

All the while she has to make sure she doesn’t venture so far into Left-loony land that her own MPs revolt.

Can you imagine what a nightmare for the Prime Minister those daily cups of tea with the Greens and independents have become? She must just feel like picking up the Earl Grey and smashing it against a wall.

No wonder Bob Brown looks pleased with himself, striding around Canberra like the Deadly Mantis, dispensing his wisdom to all and sundry. He can’t believe his luck, as Gillard cedes her power and authority. He smells total capitulation to his world view, with the shadowy shock troops of GetUp at his disposal.

It was his carbon tax that opened up the fault line Gillard is struggling to straddle now, as angry voters bombard Labor MPs’ offices with emails complaining about the Green colonisation of Labor’s soul.

They’re the people who really count — Labor’s authentic base, the working families in suburban seats, the aspirational classes for whom soaring electricity and fuel costs aren’t some theoretical exercise but a painful daily reality. Working people employed by BlueScope Steel are Labor’s base, not inner-city greenies with protected salaries.

And nothing will alienate them quicker than Green demands that petrol be included in the carbon tax, no matter how Brown tries to sugarcoat it. As Graham Richardson told Gillard: include petrol and you’re dead (memo to Tony Windsor: that’s not a death threat). (source)

 

 

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Is coal safe? Labor say yes, Greens say no

5 March, 2011 by

Milne: dangerous eco-fascist

So that would be a “no”, then. The Greens are in charge, so we cannot trust anything Labor or Gillard or Combet says. The Australian leads with the story that Greg Combet has stated that “coal is safe” under Labor’s carbon pricing scheme, but unfortunately it isn’t up to Combet to decide:

Speaking to The Weekend Australian, Mr Combet seized on Greens leader Bob Brown’s signal last week that his party was “open to looking at the impact on trade-exposed industries” as evidence it was prepared to negotiate on transitional assistance for sectors such as coal and aluminium.

But Senator Brown’s deputy, Christine Milne, yesterday renewed her attack on the coal industry, writing on The Punch website that “to prevent the climate crisis, we need to transform our economy away from the dead end of coal to the exciting opportunities of baseload solar and other renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies”.

The idiocy of this statement beggars belief… no it doesn’t, actually, it is after all the Greens talking…

“We need to redesign our cities around people instead of cars,” she wrote.

“We need to protect our magnificent forest carbon stores. All that activity will stimulate our economy. It will create jobs and investment in new industries, many of which need the same skills that people in the coal sector already have.”

NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann, who is also the party’s mining spokeswoman, yesterday praised a decision to refuse the Wallarah 2 coalmine expansion on the NSW central coast, but said “unfortunately” the refusal was an exception to the rule in the state and there were 17 major proposals for new mines or expansions being assessed. (source)

How many utterly ludicrous statements can one have in just three paragraphs? “People instead of cars”, “create fake subsidised Green jobs at the expense of real jobs”? The reality is the Greens hate coal with a passion and will do anything to see it completely wiped off the face of the earth. The fact that there’s nothing to replace it except useless fart power and equally useless sunbeams doesn’t bother the anti-human eco-fascists who don’t care that people will go without heat and light.

And don’t even bother to mention the only viable alternative to fossil fuel generation – nuclear. Despite the fact that we have the largest reserves of uranium on the planet, the Greens would rather punish humanity than take the best alternative option.

And these shit-for-brains Greens are now running the country? GOD HELP US.

Getting very angry… must stop and cool off…

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Australia is run by the Greens #2

4 March, 2011 by

Worth a thousand words, Julia

I predict this will be a recurring theme. A few days ago, I wrote that the Greens were running the country. Now it seems that this suspicion is spreading through government, industry and the public, and the consequences for the Gillard government will be disastrous.

The photo opportunity at the launch of the carbon price policy, with Gillard and Combet outnumbered and outflanked by eco-Nazis Brown and Milne, hapless “independents” Whining Windsor and weirdy-beardy Oaf-shott, and Gillard literally looking up to Brown with a look of admiration (see image), was a classic PR disaster. It was also the perfect illustration of who is really in charge – and for the avoidance of doubt, it ain’t Julia…

Dennis Shanahan in The Australian:

THE perception that Julia Gillard is giving too much to the Greens, that she’s ceding her authority to Bob Brown and giving precedence to briefing independent and Greens MPs ahead of her ALP colleagues, is taking hold among her vital constituencies: the public, business and her own parliamentary party.

From specific issues to broader concepts and fundamental policy, Labor’s pact with the Greens for their support in a minority government is having an increasingly corrosive effect on the Prime Minister’s authority and confidence that the government can deliver its own agenda.

There is evidence the public’s general confidence is being shaken by sudden policy shifts and uncertainty about a minority government; there is growing disquiet, even dismay, among business leaders that dealing with the government on the basis of compromise with a commercially viable outcome is being overtaken by ideological demands. Labor MPs are concerned they are being treated as second-rate representatives and the government is being outsmarted by Brown as the Australian Greens’ leader. (source)

The possibility of a split in the Labor government isn’t insignificant, with the right wing faction, sick of kowtowing to Bob Brown and his environmental Marxists, finally decides enough is enough. And that’s before we’ve even reached the substantive policy issues associated with the carbon tax: Labor wants 5% emissions reductions, Greens want 25%; Greens want petrol included, Labor doesn’t etc etc…

When those thorny issues are on the table, it will only get worse. And it’s not just climate policy, either:

JULIA Gillard has restated her absolute rejection of gay marriage and hotly disputed opposition claims the Australian Greens have hijacked Labor’s political agenda.

But her comments come amid division within Labor’s powerful Right faction, with Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Howes yesterday backing gay marriage, putting himself at odds with other key right-wing powerbrokers.

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister said she could overturn an earlier Labor decision, to back a bill put forward by Greens leader Bob Brown that would remove the ability of ministers to overturn territories’ laws.

Her comments followed anger from the Labor Right after Greens MPs in the ACT said that if the Brown bill were passed they would renew a push to legalise same-sex marriage.

Tony Abbott yesterday cited the gay marriage push as evidence that the Greens were running her government. But Ms Gillard last night stood by her view that “marriage is between a man and a woman”. (source)

So what happens when Julia doesn’t play ball and give the Greens what they want? Answers on a postcard.

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Greens and Labor already fighting over carbon tax

28 February, 2011 by

Hated by the Greens

Excellent. The first of many disagreements between Labor and the Greens which will, hopefully, see this pointless and dangerous tax never make it into law. The Greens, thinking they now run the country [they do – Ed], are getting pushy about including petrol in the carbon tax, to get your evil SUV off the road for good. Even Labor, who would sell their own grandmother to stay in power, is worried by this, as they see their core vote starting to desert them:

Petrol prices are already causing political tension for the federal government as it moves to introduce a carbon tax.

On a day when Prime Minister Julia Gillard finally admitted she had promised there would be no carbon tax a week before the August 21 poll, she sternly rebuked the Australian Greens for speculating how far the tax would be extended when it is introduced next year.

A carbon price regime is scheduled to begin in July 2012 but decisions are yet to be made on what sectors are included.

Agriculture will be exempt but a tax could still apply to the transport and energy sectors.

The Greens want petrol included so funds can be directed towards greener public transport.

But Ms Gillard is having none of that and had stern words for a key member of her multi-party climate change committee on Sunday.

“I understand that the deputy leader of the Greens, Christine Milne, made some statements about this matter,” she told the Nine Network.

“Those statements, in my view, were not appropriate in the sense these discussions are still to come and discussions are to be taken.” (source)

With luck, Labor will eventually learn a very unpalatable lesson about signing tawdry deals with a bunch of hysterical environmental extremists masquerading as a political party…

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ACM Comment: Australia is run by the Greens

26 February, 2011 by

Prior to the last Federal election, Julia Gillard said:

“There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead.”

Just to remind yourselves, here it is on YouTube:

Let’s also remind ourselves what Wayne Swan said on the subject:

HARTCHER: Mr Swan, Julia Gillard has committed the Labor Party to applying a price to carbon, so it is not a question of if, but when.  Can you tell us exactly when Labor will apply a price to carbon?

TREASURER: Well, certainly what we rejected is this hysterical allegation that somehow we are moving towards a carbon tax from the Liberals in their advertising.  We reject that. (source)

Both of those statements are unequivocal. However, at the nauseating photo shoot soon after last August’s election, when Julia Gillard and Bob Brown signed their grubby deal, it was clear who would really be leading the government. And so technically, Julia didn’t tell a lie when she announced her carbon tax this week. She doesn’t lead the government. She has sacrificed all her power to the Greens, and by doing so, must submit to their extremist, anti-human, Marxist environmental agenda that puts the nonsensical notion of “saving the planet” above everything, and more especially, everyone.

The Greens don’t care that you won’t be able to pay your electricity bill. Use less. The Greens don’t care if you can’t heat your home in winter. Wear more jumpers. The Greens don’t care if you can’t afford to drive your kids to school. Walk or take the bus, you evil planet-destroying capitalist. The Greens don’t care that you can’t afford to feed your family. Tough – knit your own yogurt instead.

And now we have the ultimate pointless environmental gesture, a carbon tax for an economy that generates less than 1.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions. What effect will a carbon tax have on climate? None whatsoever. What effect will a carbon tax have on the economy? Too many to list. It will raise the price of everything. Cost: substantial, benefit: zero. But who cares about cost/benefit analyses when we’re “saving the planet”? We have to appease the Greens to stay in power, thinks Julia, so we’d better do whatever they say, because staying in power is more important than doing the right thing for Australia.

Then, of course, there is the ludicrous suggestion that other countries will somehow “follow Australia’s lead”. Yeah, right! Anyone who believes that China and India will look to plucky little Australia and suddenly abandon all their plans for economic growth and start self-flagellating like us is pathologically delusional.

So Australia is the only country on earth where the Greens are in charge, thanks to two idiotic independent MPs, Tony Windsor and “giggling imbecile” Rob Oakeshott, who turned their backs on the wishes of their electorates by cynically siding with the Labor/Green alliance back in August.

If Ju-liar had an ounce of dignity or respect for the Australian electorate, she would call an election on Monday and let the people decide whether they support her volte-face or not. But she won’t. She’s too arrogant, desperately clinging on to power by sucking up to the Greens rather than standing by her principles – that’s assuming she has some, of course, which I very much doubt.

The only glimmer of hope is that the actions of the last 48 hours will so incense the Australian public that the forthcoming tidal wave of public outrage will finish Gillard and her disgraceful government once and for all, just like the ETS finished Rudd.

So make your voices heard. Write to your MPs. Turn out for protest marches. Show the government that it cannot simply steam-roller the Australian people. Let’s get this pointless and inequitable tax consigned to the dustbin of history.

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Ju-liar the Puppet

26 February, 2011 by

Bill Leak in The Australian sums it up perfectly:

Pinocchio

Further coverage from the Oz:

This policy backflip could make or break Labor – let’s hope with all our hearts that it breaks the lying bunch of shysters once and for all.

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Greens vs. Gillard

7 February, 2011 by

In the even-redder corner, the Greens!

Grab the popcorn and reserve a front row seat for the political punch-up of the year. The Greens and Labor will go head-to-head over the pointless carbon price, with the miners and the opposition throwing punches from outside the ring. Priceless!

JULIA Gillard and the Greens are on a collision course over the assistance levels for big greenhouse gas emitters in the government’s proposed new carbon pricing regime, as mine companies prepare to combat suggestions Australia is a “laggard” in international efforts to combat climate change.

The Prime Minister pledged not to throw out the “good work” on transitional arrangements for big polluters that was part of Kevin Rudd’s emissions package, but Greens deputy leader Christine Milne warned they would “not pass muster” if the multi-party climate change committee was focused on getting the best result.

The clash came as The Australian learned that resources companies were gearing up to fight what they called “exaggerated claims” about international efforts to combat climate emissions. Fresh from demolishing Mr Rudd’s prime ministership over the mining profits tax, the resources industry is preparing to oppose any carbon pricing scheme seen to be “out in front” of climate change efforts by the nation’s competitors. A briefing to mining executives prepared by the Minerals Council of Australia, obtained by The Australian, warns: “We need to be alert to exaggerated claims about the efforts under way in both developed and developing nations.” (source)

Seconds out, round one. Ding, ding.

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Greens blame Cyclone Yasi on "climate change"

1 February, 2011 by

Bunch of cynical ecotards

Does anyone really give a flying f**k what the Greens think any more? Why yes, the ABC does, which reports their every petulant outburst with wholly undue reverence. It was only a matter of time before the eco-totalitarians in the Greens, desperate to advance their Marxist agenda by any means possible, blamed the (yet to arrive) Cyclone Yasi on climate change. Tell me Senator Milne, where is your evidence for that ludicrous statement? Oh, yeah, I remember, we don’t need evidence, do we, just desperate appeals to ignorance and emotion.

I run these stories to demonstrate to my readers how irrelevant the Greens are in modern politics. I know it’s painful, but it has to be done.

The Australian Greens say Tropical Cyclone Yasi is a “tragedy of climate change”.

The party was heavily criticised after it linked the Queensland floods to climate change and blamed coal miners.

Greens deputy leader Christine Milne says the cyclone is another example of why it is important to cut carbon pollution.

“This is a tragedy, but it is a tragedy of climate change,” she said.

“The scientists have been saying that we are going to experience more extreme weather events, that their intensity is going to increase, their frequency.” (source)

To think that people have been stupid enough to vote these idiots into the balance of power in the Senate beggars belief.

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Bob Brown: cynical, insensitive opportunist

17 January, 2011 by

Bunch of cynical ecotards

“Never let a good crisis go to waste” could have been written for Bob Brown. No depths are too low for the Greens’ leader, exposing his “party” as a bunch of hysterical ecotards, more concerned with using the Queensland floods to push their extremist environmental agenda than for the suffering of so many people as a result of this tragedy. Fortunately, he has been criticised for his comments by all sides:

GREENS leader Bob Brown is facing mounting condemnation after calling on coal companies to foot the bill for the Queensland flood recovery.

Senator Brown said coal companies, as major climate change contributors, should pay a 40 per cent resources super profits tax to pay for the clean-up.

Minerals Council of Australia deputy chief Brendan Pearson accused Senator Brown of “rank opportunism”, unworthy of a serious political leader.

And Australian Coal Association director Ralph Hillman said domestically-mined coal made a tiny contribution to global carbon emissions.

Liberal Senator Eric Abetz said the Greens leader should apologise for his “insensitive” comments.

“Senator Brown’s comments expose the Greens and his leadership as shallow and cynical; willing to peddle political propaganda in the face of a natural disaster,” Senator Abetz said. (source)

The Greens are hardly worthy of the title “political party”, just a rag-tag bunch of Marxist environmental fruitcakes.

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More money than sense

8 January, 2011 by

Think it through…

The wealthy founder of website wotif.com donated $1.6 million to the Greens’ 2010 election campaign:

The generous donation by Brisbane-based businessman Graeme Wood, who has an estimated wealth of $378.5m, formed the bulk of the Greens election campaign spending, according to an article in the Fairfax press.

The Greens were able to invest in a high-rotation television advertising campaign.

Independent market research found the party won more votes in the seats that were targeted by the television advertising campaign.

Mr Wood told Fairfax he made the donation because he was unhappy with Labor and the Coalition policies on climate change and the environment.

“I didn’t think either of those parties were being effective,” he said. “They were being driven by people with vested interests.” (source)

I wonder if Mr Wood realises that if the Greens were ever able to implement their backward, dangerous, Marxist policies fully (g-d help us), there wouldn’t be an economy left in which he could amass such a vast personal fortune. He should be thanking the Coalition. Twit.

UPDATE: Andrew Bolt has more.

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