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Australian polls have plummeted, and the credibility gap I mentioned earlier has already translated into votes. Whether people agree or disagree with the Emissions Trading Scheme, no one is impressed when a leader hypes something in the most hyperbolic and inflammatory terms, then bails suddenly, as if it was not a big deal.
The front page of The Australian today:
KEVIN Rudd’s personal standing has taken a hammering after his decision to dump his climate change policy last week, and for the first time since 2006 the Coalition has an election-winning lead.
Curiously, while the Labor Party dropped 8%, the Greens primary vote (10%) didn’t pick up a single point. The Coalition (the main opposition) gained just 3% (to 43%), so most of the rest of the disillusioned voters went to “others and independents”. All the commentators are writing it up to the “Climate” issue.
It may have taken a long time to come, but eventually things based on bullying and bluster crash to Earth. Both sides of politics could have stood taller in this if they had bothered to get a forum of advocates and skeptics together in the same room (perhaps a Royal Commissioner’s room) to politely […]
Sigh. Time to party right? Heigh Ho and ra ha ha and all that. Yes, forgive me for not cracking open the champagne. Rudd (Australia’s PM) has finally admitted what skeptics have known for two months, that he doesn’t have the courage of his “convictions” and that all the pious rhetoric was a bluff.
A week before the National Budget comes out, he’s announced he’s shelving the Emissions Trading Scheme that was a defining part of his election campaign for Kevin ’07. It shocked some of the pundits.
Naturally, it’s not bad news, but let’s face it, a green tax is still on the agenda, literally billions of dollars is still being wasted in government programs, we’re still “signed up” for UN agreements worth gadzillions, and to top that off, we have a Prime Minister who’s so unprincipled that in his own words he’s a donothing delayer, an inactivist, a man who gambles recklessly with our childrens future. He’s a political coward, and a failure as a leader, and he’s acting against what he believes is Australia’s best economic interests. He said all that, and all the quotes of his faux anger (see below) come from just one speech.
[…]
Why tobacco is central to explaining Climate Science…
The Sydney Morning Herald published a speech by Penny Wong (our Minister of Climate Change, Storms, Droughts, and Rainy Days). Sometimes I marvel that humanity ever managed to get civilized.
“Climate Sceptics are all red herrings and quackery”
Get ready for the startling Proof by Motherhood Statements & WhiteWash. I’m loosely Paraphrasing Penny, taking the liberty of including the fuller more accurate message (that I’m sure she would want to share)… [then adding a few thoughts].
A strong global agreement is apparently “manifestly in Australia’s own national interest” (and worth paying billions upon billions for). Why?
10 out of 10 based on 6 ratings […]
Abbott still panders to the fake carbon scare, but takes the bankers and futures traders right out of the equation by ditching emissions trading:
“A coalition government would create a $1 billion fund that would be used to purchase initiatives aimed at reducing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has announced.”
The Coalition will have to find $3.2 b, compared to Rudd’s $40-$114 billion money-go-round.
Mr Abbott said the criteria by which the coalition would judge the bids for spending would fall into four categories. It must involve a reduction in emissions and it must improve the environment. ‘Third, there must be no increase in cost to consumers”, … (fourth, no lost jobs).
So the Libs take the policy that gives them the back door escape route — they can say that nothing about their scheme is bad, even if the science of climate change turns out to be “absolute crap”.
It’s a lot better than the Turnbull-led effort in Nov 2009 of dancing with the trading scheme on offer, except that I wish the Liberals would be brave — stand up to the science bullies, and just say Who needs any policy at all on a topic […]
Newspoll results are out in Australia tonight. Surprise. The opposition that opposes the Great Big (baseless) Tax is having its best results since it got wiped out two years ago, slashing a 26 point lead to just 4 points.
On primary vote support, the Abbott-led Coalition has secured 41 per cent support, with the Liberals securing 37 per cent and the Nationals 4 per cent, compared to Labor’s 40 per cent, with the distribution of preferences – including a significant 12 per cent Greens vote.
The result represents a significant turnaround from the high-water mark support for the Rudd government during its first year. Two years ago Newspoll recorded a 26 point lead for Labor, at 63 per cent to 37 per cent for the Coalition, in February 2008. The gap narrowed to 61 per cent for Labor and 39 per cent for the Coalition in April 2008, and again to 59 per cent and 41 per cent in October 2009.
This is being directly connected by commentators to climate policies.
10 out of 10 based on 2 ratings […]
The shifting ground in the climate debate means that now some of the Greens may realize they need to set their sights lower and accept a weaker ETS deal or get none at all.
Where before they would not accept Rudds proposals because they were too ineffective, they are now suggesting it’s possible. (I’d call them the “pragmatic Greens” except that the need for an ETS is based on out-dated science, stone age logic and fraudulent malpractice. )
The government needs 7 votes in the Senate. If they get the 5 Green votes, they need 2 others. There are rumours the last two votes could come from the two Liberals who crossed the floor to vote for the ETS in December (and against their new leader wishes and against the majority of their party).
The email campaign was a major success in November and December. I’m still hearing about it from members of Parliament. It burned an impression on Senators and their staffers that thousands of emails arrived, each one crafted individually, not “cut n paste automated emailling”. They had not seen anything like it before. They are still going through them.
These two Senators need to know how you […]
The two by-elections in Australia this weekend were meant to be a “bloodbath” for the conservative Liberal Party right? After all, the Liberal Party have had their worst two weeks in history, where they were described as “imploding” over the ETS (Emissions Trading Legislation), and just elected a rather unexpected new leader. The two electoral seats were also held by high profile leaders who’ve resigned (former Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson and former Treasurer Peter Costello).
George Megalogenis said, “Tony Abbot could not have wished for two less friendly seats to test his leadership”.
Analyst Malcolm Mackerras was adamant that climate change would play a critical role in the calculations of voters on Saturday. [Here]. He was utterly confident the Greens would win (and that was only two days ago).
“…Higgins and Bradfield would be the electorates in which people most strongly feel resentment at climate change denialists,” he said. “That is why electing Abbott was a complete disaster. They will get a terrible shock on Saturday night, they really will.”
And the “complete shock” was a shock for Mackerras instead. The Liberal Party did just fine.
10 out of 10 based on 3 ratings […]
From now forward nothing will be quite the same for climate skeptics. It’s true that there is still a major war against unreason, and massive vested money which will fight all the way from the bank, but the ClimateGate story has taken on a reality that cannot be stopped.
Jon Stewart is a liberal (meaning leftie) comedian in the US, and watch him mock Gore, and give people the real import of “hide the decline”. …it’s just scientist speak for using a standard statistical technique for recalibrating data in order to… …TRICK YOU!. He delivers the blows beautifully.
[ Darn. This youtube video was removed from youtube…]
Most people in polls might say they believe we should do something about the climate, but only 10% of them are truly committed followers. The other 90% are dutiful. And because the dutiful followers of the greenhouse crisis are well… dutiful, they aren’t going to object too hard when someone tells them it was all scam, and… they don’t have to pay more money, or apologize for taking long flights, or swap their dog for a goldfish (which has a smaller carbon footprint). That’s why, once this begins to fall, there […]
History will record December 1, 2009 as the day of the first major political damage to the momentum of the Global Warming Scam.
For the first time anywhere in a major western democracy, a mainstream party is ready to face an election on “climate change” and face the bullies. The Australian Liberal Party have elected a new leader, held a secret ballot and voted 55 : 29 to defer the Emissions Trading Legislation.
10 out of 10 based on 3 ratings […]
This is what it comes down to:
Turnbull is sacrificing his leadership ambitions, ignoring his party members, brushing off thousands of emails, denying the devastating ClimateGate scandal and the evidence of fraud, and doing his utmost to force through legislation in a break-neck rush when the only reason for the hurry is to make Rudd (his opponent) look good in Copenhagen.
D-Day is tomorrow. If Turnbull can find six complicit senators they can pull the “guillotine” on questions, and force a vote. With their seven votes the ETS legislation could be passed, and from that instant, Australians will be poorer. Even if the scheme doesn’t start, from that moment on businesses and banks will ‘invest’ and demand compensation if it’s not carried through.
Turnbull will face almost certain wipeout the next day as leader in a spill he claims he can win, but has “deferred” from Monday until Tuesday. He is nothing but naked bluff. His determination to help the Labor Party at the expense of his own ambition defies logic and begs dark questions.
10 out of 10 based on 3 ratings […]
I woke up this morning to find the Queen telling me to care for the Climate, and the front page of The Australian declaring that the liberals faced oblivion if they did not pass this legislation.
Oblivion? Because the Liberals saved us from being defrauded?
It’s as if the editor of The Australian has not noticed their own articles about the climate science scandal known as ClimateGate. There is no way this story is going to fade away. The fuse is ignited, and people everywhere are burning with anger and spreading the word. There is already polished, popular satirical songs on You-Tube (see below) and t-shirts printed with “Hide the decline”.
I’ve put in this video here even though I’ve linked to it before, because this is so relevant to the question of voter polls. This mocking slam-dunk is just the beginning. With this kind of material doing the rounds, how can ClimateGate be ignored?
10 out of 10 based on 4 ratings […]
The Australian situation tonight: Today the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) decision was successfully delayed by questions until Monday. That’s good news, but there’s no Champers popping yet. The longer we wait, the longer the real story of the fraud has to filter through to our representatives, but this is a race to overcome two decades of propaganda in one weekend.
This week will be written up in history books. Late yesterday a parliamentary mutiny occurred as opposition cabinet members abandoned their leader.
10 out of 10 based on 3 ratings […]
I like Chris Uhlmann, and he’s spoken out with reason before on the issue of skeptics. So I was a little surprised to see him say:
“…one of the reasons Malcolm Turnbull is staring into the abyss is because he is getting too far ahead of many in his party room.
He accepts the prevailing consensus on global warming and is personally committed to an emissions trading system. A significant part of his party does not or believes that this emissions trading scheme is a dog.”
source: Oh Malcolm, how did it come to this? (my italics)
Coming soon: one of those In-the-Matrix moments when reality shifts for our journalists.
Imagine that ambitious powerful people were exploiting science to create a scare to gain power and money. Who would know? How would you find out? Normally, you’d read about it in the press. A whistle-blower would make an announcement, and the press would be all ears, and bring the story to the public. But imagine the press decided not to print anything from whistleblowers, not because they didn’t speak in reasonable tones, and not because they couldn’t back up what they said, but just because they are whistle-blowers? […]
As news races around the blog world and the tip of the iceberg breaks into the mainstream media, people are waking up to the scam. Australia is in the extraordinary position of passing legislation that is known to be based on fraudulent science. True, it’s only been days since the news broke, but our politicians have Blackberries. It only takes seconds for the information to reach the palm of their hands, but it may take years for the meaning to filter through flawed neural software.
7.8 out of 10 based on 4 ratings […]
SOURCE: SATIRICAL PRESS. Don’t believe a word.
Malcolm Turnbull, leader of The Australian Opposition has been announced as the outstanding winner of the coveted Order of the Banker.
Victor Mosely, the chairman of the Bankers Awards committee, announced the win this evening, in anticipation of the passing of the Australian Emissions Trading Scheme. “This man has done more than anyone to improve future banking profits world wide”. When pointed out that it was merely an Australian scheme, Mosely replied, that “in the fraught lead up to Copenhagen he has done what no one else could, he’s given us hope.”
Carbon trading in 2008 was a $126 billion market. The CFTC in the United States was forecasting a trillion dollar market by 2012. More than ever, banks need help with their balance sheets, and nothing else will expand the power of financial houses as fast as carbon trading will.
His work in defying science, polls, and any semblance of democracy is really rising above and beyond the call.
9 out of 10 based on 2 ratings […]
This morning Graeme Campbell, former Member of Parliament for Kalgoorlie, was waiting outside the Senate entrance to Parliament House. He has a full cleared security pass, but he was refused entry by the The Black Rod of the Senate. Security tried to take the copies of The Skeptics Handbooks, effectively confiscating Campbells private property. When Campbell pointed this out, they returned them, but would still not allow him in. They bluffed and told him he would be barred from all entrances. He walked around to The House of Representatives door where, as was his right, he was allowed in, and with those books.
What has The Australian Parliament come to when a former elected Member of Parliament is blocked because of the books he carries?
How dangerous can these books be? The Skeptics Handbook I & II are armed with graphs and cartoons and scientific references. But the Rudd government doesn’t want people to see them. The Theory of Man Made Global Warming is based on bluff and bluster. Only censorship and bullying can keep the other side of the story at bay.
10 out of 10 based on 4 ratings […]
In Hot and Bothered, the Australian has ramped up the descriptors of the hacked emails from the CRU. The terms are appropriate: “apparent fraud”, “disturbing”, “doctoring evidence”, and “scandal”.
This is a story finally that the media just cannot ignore.
Nick Minchin is also elevated to unofficial chief climate change sceptic of Australia, a post that didn’t exist yesterday. Suddenly unconvinced people have credibility.
“Minchin says the apparent fraud signifies a “rather disturbing culture, at least in the East Anglia CRU, which is one of most significant in the world in terms of determining outcomes of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change”.
“For those who don’t think the IPCC should be taken as gospel, this does confirm that we shouldn’t be unquestioning of the opinions of the UN committee.”
Brendan O’Keefe also collects comments together from Ian Plimer, Phil Jones, Minister Penny Wong, Kevin Trenberth (“I feel violated”), as well as Tom Nelson, Tim Ball, Greg Hunt (opposition climate change spokesman) et moi. Yes, a whole paragraph.
Finally, a major paper is investigating, and it’s just in time. Today is D-Day for Turnbull. A big day in Australian politics. The Rudd government hands down a new […]
Any member who passes ETS legislation under the current circumstances, will be seen as negligent
I am fortunately only one degree of separation from an Australian Senator. The word I hear today is there is a very real chance we could lose this fight for common sense in Parliament this week. This comes despite the verification that climate science is corrupt and based on bullying, irregularities, hidden data, and artificial adjustments.
Please people, let as many senators as you can hear your point of view. They are getting messages and it does have an impact.
“The party rank and file are on fire about this,” says one anti-ETS frontbencher. “You should see the emails I’m getting on a daily basis.” [The Australian].
10 out of 10 based on 3 ratings […]
The world is considering a new financial market larger than any commodity, it’s “based on science”, but if you ask for evidence, you’re called names—“Denier”, and by our Prime Minister, no less. This is supposed to pass for reasoned debate? […]
Australian conservatives implode — the suppressed majority rebel
In an extraordinary development, it’s now publicly known and beyond any doubt that most of our conservative’s in opposition do not want an ETS (Emissions Trading Scheme) before Copenhagen.
But our opposition leader wants an ETS, and has put his job on the line to get it. The Government wants to start negotiations in a week, or else they will “dissolve parliament” (which is not quite as scary as it sounds).
It’s not obvious which way this will go. One state conservative branch has called the bluff, and The Nationals (the junior partners in conservative politics) have made it clear they will not vote for the ETS. The main conservative party in Australia is fracturing because intimidation and bullying has suppressed real opinions.
No one is debating the science. Instead, the government bullies the opposition with election threats, and the opposition leader responds by bullying the opposition too. This is not what democracy was supposed to be.
This is an international version of my shorter local OnLineOpinion Commentary
10 out of 10 based on 2 ratings […]
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JoNova A science presenter, writer, speaker & former TV host; author of The Skeptic's Handbook (over 200,000 copies distributed & available in 15 languages).
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