This brief post is not about sacrifice made by soldiers in any armed conflict. Rather, it is about the conflict between science and climate scepticism. It is about a government manipulated by mining company heavyweights, media moguls and shock jocks. Primarily, I wanted to share a great article in today's Age newspaper to remind people aboutthe ground we lost when Abbott became PM. I wonder how much farther along we might be if the Liberal/National Party Coalition weren't so beholden to big coal and the likes of shock jock Alan Jones.
Although we may think the dark days of the Abbott government and its war on logic and denial of climate change is well behind us, it is important to remember that some of the main players in Abbott's regime are still in power and holding back real progress in addressing climate change. The most notable of these is Greg Hunt, who was Environment Minister in the Abbott government, and is now in charge of health. I reckon this cartoon pretty much sums him up:
The first action Abbott and company took in government - within 24 hours and before parliament had even sat - was to demolish the Climate Commission that had been set up by Julia Gillard's Labor Government. This was very soon followed by the introduction of bills that shut down everything from the emissions trading scheme, the CEFC and the Climate Change Authority. Senior public servants who were seen as invested in supporting climate change were sacked.
I commend this article to you; it is brilliantly written and gives a very clear picture of how draconian Abbott and his henchmen were, and what we lost:
Is it likely that Scott Morrison and his government will do anything real in dealing with climate change and moving us towards having a more green economy which mitigates against climate change? Anyone who remembers him standing up in Federal Parliament clutching his lump of coal would probably have an opinion on that. I reckon this cartoon pretty much sums up "ScoMo":
But, who knows? If nothing else, Morrison cares about staying in power. If he is able ascertain that the majority of Australians do care about giving their children and grandchildren a future then he might just be able to undo some of the bad that Abbott did. Then again, pigs might fly.
