Abbott's stinging attack on Rudd

20 January, 2010 by

Stinging attack

Not climate specifically, but a good story none the less. This is what we need the Opposition leader to do. Expose the hypocrisy and spin of the Labor government, and in particular Kevin Rudd:

KEVIN Rudd is a “ruthless” politician who went to the polls in 2007 promising anything and everything in order to be elected, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said yesterday.

Mr Abbott said the Prime Minister’s failure to fulfill a raft of election promises was starting to show, contributing to his decline in popularity.

“I think Kevin Rudd is an extremely ruthless politician and I think pre-election he said whatever he thought he needed to say to maximise his chances of winning,” he said. “I think he thought he would worry about the consequences of his promises later.”

Mr Abbott launched the broadside against Mr Rudd after the Prime Minister delivered an Australia Day address in Melbourne on Monday night.

“It was typical Rudd,” Mr Abbott said. “It was full of things that we have to do in 2050, and almost nothing about what he would do this year.”

Great stuff, Tony. Keep it up.

Read it here.

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Monckton offers "personal briefing" to Kevin Rudd

4 January, 2010 by

Viscount Monckton

Viscount Monckton writes to Kevin Rudd to offer a “personal briefing” on the non-problem of AGW:

Prime Minister,

Climate change: proposed personal briefing

Your speech on 6 November 2009 to the Lowy Institute, in which you publicly expressed some concern at my approach to the climate question, has prompted several leading Australian citizens to invite me come on tour to explain myself in a series of lectures in Australia later this month. I am writing to offer personal briefings on why “global warming” is a non-problem to you and other party leaders during my visit. For convenience, I am copying this letter to them, and to the Press.

I wouldn’t hold your breath. Kevin Rudd and his government have their fingers plugged firmly into their ears on this subject.

Read it all here (h/t WUWT)

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Rudd's New Year delusion on climate

1 January, 2010 by

More spin than a launderette

Spinning is what Labor does best, and Kevin Rudd is a master of the art. Copenhagen was a disaster – only rescued from achieving absolutely nothing by the presence of the Obamessiah himself, who cobbled together a flimsy, eleventh-hour non-agreement in order to have something to announce to the waiting media. But not according to our Kevin, speaking in a typically patronising New Year address, who actually divined some kind of outcome:

We saw more than 90 per cent of world leaders supporting the Copenhagen Accord on climate change.

It was by no means a perfect agreement, as Australia wanted much more, but it was an agreement nonetheless, where the alternative was complete collapse and total inaction.

Globally, we’ve agreed for the first time that temperature increases must be kept within two degrees Celsius [Just like that – world leaders agree, and the earth’s climate meekly follows – Ed] and that rich and poor countries alike will bring down their carbon emissions to limit increases in global temperatures.

As one of the hottest and driest continents, Australia is experiencing the impact of climate change first, and hardest [No it isn’t. See here – Ed]. We therefore have a deep national interest in global and national action on climate change.

If we do not act at home and abroad, we betray both our children’s future [“and our grandchildren’s future” – Ed], and their ability to enjoy our natural wonders, including the Barrier Reef.

Pious nonsense.

Read it here.

Read it here.

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Terry McCrann – Let's face it: the ETS is dead

26 December, 2009 by

Dead as a…

The only people who don’t know this already appear to be Kevin Rudd and Penny Wong, getting ready to re-introduce it to Parliament in February, despite the world having moved on. Copenhagen has shown that the desire to cripple economies with “carbon reduction” plans is virtually non-existent, and with Tony Abbott at the helm of the Coalition, there isn’t the slightest possibility of it getting through:

While an argument could have been mounted before Copenhagen for moving towards an ETS, that is not possible after the chaos in doleful Hamlet’s hometown that produced the “China solution”.

There will be no global agreement to cut emissions of carbon dioxide.

Formally, it was “Chindia” — China and India. But China is the elephant in that pairing. And in any event, nothing that President Barack Obama might have promised in Copenhagen was ever going to be endorsed by the US Senate, as it has to be.

While we wouldn’t have quite seen a replay of the 95-0 vote that rejected the Kyoto Treaty in 1997, there is zero prospect of the US adopting either binding CO2 emission targets or a cap-and-trade policy, their name for an ETS.

So we have a situation post-Copenhagen, where the two countries that between them are responsible for nearly half of all global emissions of CO2 are not committed to cutting emissions, far less binding targets. And more pointedly, they won’t have an ETS.

Read it here.

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Copenhagen: Rudd's same old story on ETS

23 December, 2009 by

Did it happen?

It’s as if the disaster that was Copenhagen never happened. Kevin Rudd has vowed to press on with the ETS exactly as before, same targets, same timetable, despite the fact that Copenhagen achieved virtually nothing. Finally speaking publicly for the first time since his return from No-Hopenhagen, the rhetoric is unchanged:

KEVIN Rudd has ruled out any change in the government’s emission-reduction targets as business exploits the uncertainty following the Copenhagen conference to press for a review of Labor’s climate change strategy.

The Prime Minister declared there was no way the government would agree to a target for cuts in excess of 25 per cent, as the Greens had been urging.

“Australia will do no more and no less than the rest of the world,” he said.

Mr Rudd said the government would stick to its target of reducing emissions by a minimum of 5 per cent by 2020, with the possibility of the target being increased to between 15 and 25 per cent depending upon what action other nations take.

He blamed opposition from developing countries for the failure of the Copenhagen talks to reach a comprehensive agreement, although he declined to specifically criticise the Chinese.

He said the final deal at Copenhagen had, for the first time, set a target of reducing world temperatures by 2C, which all nations said they would aim to achieve, with an agreed system of national and international monitoring. (source)

Not only that, but AGL has labelled the administration of the other plank of the emissions reduction plan, the renewable energy target, a “fraud”:

AGL threatened not to invest in alternative energy forms until the Government addressed a collapse in the price of certificates designed to encourage investment.

The threat highlights the risks hanging over $30 billion of expected investment needed to reach a target of obtaining 20 per cent of power from renewable sources by 2020.

The managing director of AGL, Michael Fraser, said the Government’s approach was a fraud that threatened the industry’s ability to meet the target.

To encourage investment, energy companies receive renewable energy certificates in return for building green power stations. But the value of these certificates has almost halved, from near $60 to about $30 since the Government began issuing them to consumers who install solar hot water systems and other products that do not generate power.

Because of the price fall, Mr Fraser said, plans to build the $800 million Macarthur wind farm in Victoria were under enormous pressure. The project is expected to create 500 jobs during construction and Mr Fraser said up to seven other wind farms being considered were also under threat.

The only new wind farms AGL would definitely build were those required under contracts to supply power to desalination plants for the Victorian and South Australian governments.

”Beyond that, you simply won’t see us invest until this issue gets resolved,” Mr Fraser said. (source)

Ouch. And the Copenhagen blame game is really in full swing, especially in The Guardian, under the headline “How do I know China wrecked the Copenhagen deal? I was in the room”:

Copenhagen was a disaster. That much is agreed. But the truth about what actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin and inevitable mutual recriminations. The truth is this: China wrecked the talks, intentionally humiliated Barack Obama, and insisted on an awful “deal” so western leaders would walk away carrying the blame. How do I know this? Because I was in the room and saw it happen.

China’s strategy was simple: block the open negotiations for two weeks, and then ensure that the closed-door deal made it look as if the west had failed the world’s poor once again. And sure enough, the aid agencies, civil society movements and environmental groups all took the bait. The failure was “the inevitable result of rich countries refusing adequately and fairly to shoulder their overwhelming responsibility”, said Christian Aid. “Rich countries have bullied developing nations,” fumed Friends of the Earth International.

All very predictable, but the complete opposite of the truth. (source)

Setting things up nicely for even less progress in 2010.

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Rudd writes to hunger strike farmer

22 December, 2009 by

Peter Spencer - Day 30

You will recall the awful story of Peter Spencer, currently into his fifth week of hunger strike after the government appropriated his land for use as a carbon sink, in order to help meet Australia’s Kyoto obligations, without any compensation (see here). Jo Nova has a good summary here: Wholesale theft in the name of carbon.

The latest news, however, is that Kevin Rudd has written to Mr Spencer through his Ag minister, Tony Burke, but that it tells him nothing he doesn’t already know:

Peter Spencer is entering his 30th day without food, perched high on a wind tower on his Shannons Flat property, near Cooma in the south-east.

He is arguing that state native vegetation laws have been used by the Federal Government to lock-up land to meet carbon pollution reduction targets.

He has received a letter from the Agriculture Minister, Tony Burke, on behalf of the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

It details compensation options and possible land management strategies.

But his supporter Alastair McRobert says he will not open it.

“The Government wanted Peter to come down and talk about measures that were already in place to manage his land,” he said.

“It’ll be returned unopened.” (source)

Is Kevin Rudd really going to stand by and watch this continue to the end?

Email the Prime Minister directly here.

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Rudd's ETS quandary

22 December, 2009 by

A bit like the ETS

Thanks to the weak-as-water outcome from Copenhagen, the ETS is sunk. Kevin Rudd’s desire to arrive at Copenhagen with a trophy has scuppered any possible chance of the two errors in four words “Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme”. Just think about it for a minute. If Rudd had not been so stubborn and vain, and agreed to wait until after Copenhagen to try to pass the ETS, Malcolm Turnbull would still be leader of the Opposition (god help us), and there would have been bipartisan support for it. Rudd may have been able to get it through after Copenhagen with Turnbull onside.

But now? No chance. With Tony Abbott at the helm, the Coalition wouldn’t pass it in a billion years, and the only option for the government is to accede to the wishes of the Greens, who are now arguing for 25% – 40% cuts by 2020:

The federal government should start negotiating with the Australian Greens if it wants parliament to pass its plan to tackle climate change, party leader Bob Brown says.

Despite the Copenhagen summit’s failure to deliver strong cuts to greenhouse gas emissions, Labor maintains it will re-introduce legislation setting up its carbon pollution reduction scheme (CPRS), or emissions trading scheme, to the lower house in February.

…

The Greens want to see Labor’s ETS include a 25 to 40 per cent target, which Senator Brown said would help the government fulfil its international obligation.

“They have to now move to targets that would keep global warming below two degrees, and that is where the Greens have been aiming,” he said. (source)

What international obligation is that, Bob? Remember, Copenhagen resulted in no international obligations – just a wish list, that the US and China have probably already forgotten about. As Terry McCrann says, 40% is really 60% per capita by the time you get to 2020, which would send Australia’s economy back to the Dark Ages, which is what we must assume the Greens want for the Australian people. Because people are very low on the Greens’ list of priorities.

It would be suicidal for Rudd to climb into bed with the Greens on this, so he’ll just have to get used to it: the ETS is sunk.

UPDATE: Not surprisingly, Penny Wong has already ruled out any deal with the Greens:

“The reality is that the Greens have taken a position, in relation to targets, that the Government was not able to negotiate on,” Senator Wong said.

“They indicated they did not wish to have a negotiation unless the Government was prepared to put targets of 25 to 40 per cent on the table. That is not the Government’s policy, that is not the Government’s position.

“We don’t believe that is a responsible way forward.” (source)

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Where's Ruddy?

21 December, 2009 by

Dead ringer

You would have thought that Kevin Rudd, after the “triumph” of Copenhagen, would be bursting to bore the Australian public rigid about the amazing, “historic,” “unprecedented,” [insert fifteen more adjectives here] deal struck and how it’s now full steam ahead for an ETS in February because the rest of the world is committed to doing the same… hang on, that’s not quite right. Unsurprisingly, Kevin has holed up in Kirribilli because his spin-meisters haven’t yet worked out the script. Tony Abbott makes hay:

“You were the one who built Copenhagen up. You were the one who was a friend of the chair. You were the one who was the co-author of the rejected documents. You need to explain yourself.

“Having come back from Copenhagen, instead of explaning the outcome to the Australian people, he is in hiding in Kirribilli House. Now I say to Mr Rudd do the right thing by the Australian people, come out of hiding, don’t closet yourself in Kirribilli House, don’t send out Penny Wong and Kate Lundy and all these other millions to explain the disappointing outcome of Copenhagen – do it yourself.

“I think the public are reacting against the way the government is conducting this debate in these sweeping, moral terms, I mean in the end the debate over how we respond to climate change should be based on fact not faith.

“This is not a theological question, it’s a practical question and I think Mr Rudd risks triggering a very serious backlash from public if he keeps running around like Torquemada – trying to have climate change heretics burnt at the stake.”

Brilliant stuff. More of the same, please.

Read it here (and listen too!)

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Rudd to "try again for ETS tax"

21 December, 2009 by

Delusional about climate

At least the Daily Telegraph is calling it an ETS “tax” now!

Kevin Rudd, along with all the other world leaders at Copenhagen, believe they have the power to regulate the earth’s climate. They genuinely believe that it will bow to their superior power, and keep its temperature rise below whatever figure they deem to be the right one.

There is one word for this kind of belief: delusional.

And now Kevin Rudd and Wayne Swan are continuing to press ahead with the ETS for the hopelessly pathetic reason of “business certainty”.

Treasurer Wayne Swan said the controversial emissions trading scheme that would push up the cost of electricity and power was “just as relevant now as it was before Copenhagen and we need to pass the bill for business certainty”. [Well done to the Tele for calling it as it is! – Ed]

The ETS was rejected by the Senate earlier this month and the Government planned to re-introduce the scheme for parliamentary approval in February next year even though other nations were refusing to agree to cut their own carbon emissions.

The Rudd Government said it still remained committed to cutting the nation’s greenhouse gas output by between five and 25 per cent.

It would set a more exact target in February next year when other nations made public the size of any greenhouse reductions they would be perpared to make.

Keep pushing, guys. The more you do, the more the public will see through this nonsense.

Read it here.

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Copenhagen: the aftermath

20 December, 2009 by

The aftermath

The general reaction has been “a lot of hot air”, which just about sums it up:

GLOBAL leaders went to Copenhagen to save the world but used the final hours to desperately try and save face.

A “frustrated” Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last night joined US President Barack Obama in putting the most positive spin on the outcome of the conference, but the final “deal” was condemned across the political spectrum.

Poor countries and green groups were outraged by the three-page “political statement” brokered by Mr Obama – and four other national leaders – in the dying hours.

Mr Obama called the outline of the agreement – yet to be endorsed by most other countries last night – a “meaningful and unprecedented breakthrough”, but admitted “this progress is not enough”. (source)

Rightly, Tony Abbott lays into Kevin Rudd’s self-serving agenda on the ETS:

The Opposition Leader, who argues Australia should delay a domestic carbon emissions trading scheme (ETS) until a substantive agreement has been struck at a global level, said: ”Copenhagen, it seems, has been a very Kevin Rudd kind of agreement. There’s been a lot of words but not many deeds come out of it.”

Mr Abbott said the draft accord was more ”good intentions”, but said it was better than no agreement at all on climate change.

He said Mr Rudd had been wrong to rush the Government’s climate change policy through Parliament. It was shot down in the Senate.

”I hope that he’ll now entirely reconsider his climate change policy,” he said.

Mr Abbott attacked Mr Rudd’s belief he may have been able to influence the outcome of an agreement struck at Copenhagen. ”I think that it was always a great conceit to think that Australia could save the world on its own,’‘ he said.

”The Australian voice should be heard in the world but I think it’s wrong for people like Mr Rudd to imagine that they can be much more than the mouse that roared.” (source)

And the Greens, clearly deranged, want Australia to commit to even deeper cuts, despite Copenhagen achieving nothing on a global scale:

The Greens have demanded that Kevin Rudd commits Australia to a 40 per cent cut in emissions by 2020 despite the failure of the Copenhagen summit to set emissions targets.

A deal struck by world leaders at the climate change summit in Copenhagen includes a global warming limit of two degrees well short of demands from island nations.

Greens leader Bob Brown says the emissions trading bills rejected by the Senate earlier this year allow warming of four degrees. [Actually, Bob, they allow whatever warming or cooling the planet feels like, because nothing Australia does will make any difference to the climate – Ed]

Senator Brown says Mr Rudd should now negotiate with the Greens so his Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is reset to keep warming at no more than 1.5 degrees. (source)

Australia’s 1.5% of global emissions determines the fate of the planet. Truly insane! Just think what a 40% emissions cut by 2020 would do to – it would be the end of our economy – oh, hang on, that’s what the Greens want, isn’t it?

At least Piers Ackerman delivers some climate sense:

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who sought to attain some semblance of world statesmanship as a “friend of the chair” appointed by host, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, again demonstrated his lack of diplomatic negotiating skills as conferees failed to agree to a meaningful conclusion.

Fortunately, Rudd’s attempts to scare Australians into supporting an untested emissions trading system in advance of the failed conference were derailed by a new and reinvigorated Opposition, under Tony Abbott, at the eleventh hour.

Had Malcolm Turnbull’s plan to go along with the Labor Party succeeded, Australia would now be suffering under a new tax scheme that would have ensured the collapse of industries fundamental to the economy.

The collapse at Copenhagen into a weak, almost meaningless morass of platitudes and “legally non-binding” (how’s that for humbug?) agreement with no firm limits on emissions provided real-time proof of the inability of the United Nations to organise, let alone operate, anything.That Australia sent more than 100 people to Copenhagen to participate in this gabfest only to return with a piece of paper that reads like a drunk’s New Year’s resolution is an absolute disgrace. What’s more, the whole show will be repeated in Bonn in six months in another exercise of futility, fatuity and duplicity. (source)

Phew, sanity at last.

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