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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Combet: "change your bulbs to beat the carbon tax"

27 February, 2011 by

Arrogant disregard

Just how out of touch can a minister be? Is this a serious statement, showing his appalling lack of judgement, or a sick joke, showing his astonishing bad taste? Can’t tell. Whichever it is, it demonstrates how little Greg Combet, the Marie Antoinette of Labor (“Let them eat cake“), understands about the effect of a carbon tax on the people of Australia, and comments like this will simply stoke the fire even more:

Asked to name the top five things people could do to beat the carbon tax, Mr Combet said it was best to reduce energy consumption.

“And the main way to do that is by saving energy, to turn things off at the wall,” he said. [Because turning your TV off at the wall will save roughly the square root of bugger all, hardly enough to scratch the paint off the $300 annual increase – Ed]

“Maybe think about how often you use the airconditioner. Using a cheaper-to-run hot water system. Changing the light bulbs. Have you got insulation?” (source)

So Australians are now expected to fork out even more money for a new hot water system, toxic compact fluorescent bulbs (at $10 each) and insulation for their homes? [They could always set up a government scheme to install insulation… no, wait, they tried that and it burned down homes and killed people – Ed] And this at a time when they already can’t afford to feed their families, fill up their cars or heat their homes? Seriously, you haven’t a clue, have you?

 

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More green waste – Gillard's "Green Start" scrapped

22 December, 2010 by

Governments need plenty of these...

Because wasting taxpayers’ money and axing jobs is just fine, so long as we’re “saving the planet.” Of course, if we trace the logic back, green loan schemes such as this are theoretically needed to encourage people to invest in energy saving measures, which are necessary to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, which are the source of greenhouse gases, which are the cause of “dangerous global warming”… or so states the IPCC.

The Gillard government uncritically swallows everything the IPCC says, and shuts its eyes and ears to any dissenting views. It also blindly relies on various compromised government advisers, including ACM favourite Will Steffen, who has been in good form recently, mudslinging, spouting propaganda and smearing deniers. But why wouldn’t he? The entire careers of climate scientists the world over, including Steffen, is paved with gold from the AGW hysteria they themselves help to create, so even if they had any doubts, why would they dare reveal them in public and thereby help kill the golden goose?

But what does the government find? Tragically, it’s not the green utopia that Bob Brown and his cronies keep promising, but the unacceptable costs of spruiking a green agenda in the face of harsh economic reality.

So it’s little surprise that yet another “green” scheme collapses in a heap, following close on the heels of the home insulation (pink batts), solar rebates and Green Loans debacles, and all of it can be traced back to the spin and misrepresentations of the IPCC:

EIGHT months after the Federal Government axed its disastrous home insulation scheme, it announced yesterday it would also stop its “Green Start” program because there were too many “risks” involved.

The axing of the environmental scheme just days from Christmas means that, within weeks, thousands of people will be without work.

Labelled a “disaster” by the Federal Opposition, the Government’s original Green Loans program was yesterday slammed as a “disgrace and a sinful waste of money” by one NSW assessor.

The multi-million-dollar scheme was supposed to provide 360,000 households with energy-efficiency checks and access to interest-free loans of up to $10,000 for environmental improvements such as solar panels and insulation.

Following criticism of the administration of the scheme, the Government announced in July the Green Loans program would be replaced by a Green Start program, to be delivered in two rounds.

But Climate Change Minister Greg Combet yesterday announced the Government would dump Green Start, forcing nearly 10,000 accredited and uncontracted assessors – 4635 in NSW – to find alternative work. (source)

Who cares? It’s all well intentioned. What’s a few jobs and a few million dollars between friends compared to the future of the entire planet?

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Combet: coal industry is safe

13 September, 2010 by

Coal safe?

Although how Greg Combet can promise this with a straight face when he plans to introduce a pointless price on carbon [dioxide], and his Labor party is tied up in a formal agreement with the Greens, whose policy is to wipe coal from the face of the earth. Anyway, an interview in The Australian gives us a few hints as to what Greg is about:

As part of its deal to secure government, Labor signed a formal alliance with the Greens, whose policies include the eventual phasing out of the coal industry, Australia’s biggest export earner.

But in an interview with The Australian, Mr Combet said his background as a former coal engineer, union official and MP with coal workers in his NSW electorate meant he did not believe his job was to shut down the coal industry.

“I don’t agree with that. That’s not part of my job at all,” he said.

“I am acutely aware of the challenges that this policy presents. But people jump to these absolute positions, and I just don’t think that’s appropriate.

“I’ve got a responsibility to support those people’s jobs. The coal industry is a very vibrant industry with a strong future. What you’ve got to do is look to how we can achieve in the longer term things like carbon capture and storage for coal-fired power stations.” [Impossible in the near to medium term – and hugely expensive.]

Greens leader Bob Brown has described Australia as being like a heroin addict “feeding the habit” of the world’s reliance on coal. The party’s stated policy is to oppose development of any new coalmines or the expansion of existing coalmines and to phase out all existing coal subsidies. It wants to work towards stopping the development and granting of export licences for all new coalmines.

But in a statement last night, Greens senator Christine Milne, who has the party’s portfolio responsibility for climate change, said she did not intend to rehash the policy differences with Labor as she sought to build “trust” with the new Gillard government. [In other words, sweep our policy under the carpet – for now – so we don’t expose our fundamental ideological differences.] “I have put in a call to Greg Combet to congratulate him and begin the exciting conversation,” she said.

“In the meantime, I hope we can all respect the delicate process of building trust between people coming from different policy positions so we can achieve the best outcomes possible for the climate.”

The Greens can almost sound vaguely reasonable sometimes, especially when they are pulling the wool over the eyes of the mainstream media – but believe me, it’s all an act. Underneath they are as radical as ever, and highly dangerous for Australia.

Read it here.

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Combet to "push ahead with carbon price"

11 September, 2010 by

Also available for cabaret appearances…

Blimey, gov, that didn’t take long – I can hardly keep up! Only a few hours ago I was wondering when the first bit of Com-bot climate nonsense would come, and here it is already!

Newly-promoted cabinet minister Greg Combet says climate change remains a tremendous environmental challenge that demands careful economic reform.

…

“My priorities will be to continue the government’s strong support for renewable energy, to promote greater energy efficiency in industry and households, and to work towards the introduction of a carbon price,” Mr Combet said in a statement. [Because all of those things will help to stop global warming, er, climate change. No, wait…]

…

“In the new parliament, climate change policy will require broad consultation and the building of consensus,” he said.

That means broad consultation with people who have already made up their minds that leads to a consensus which gives us the answer we want. Brilliant. You can’t lose!

Read it here.

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Election 2010: Combet is new climate change minister

11 September, 2010 by

Union man…

Greg Combet has been handed the hospital pass of selling a price on carbon to an increasingly sceptical Australian public. A former union boss, he’s Labor through and through.

We wait with bated breath for the Com-bot’s first pronouncement on climate. My guess is that we won’t have to wait long, and it will be as nonsensical as all of Penny’s…

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