Fossil fools lead nation nowhere
SOME people find federal politics pretty dull but to make it more interesting I like to imagine the current leadership as a random group of people recruited to play a poorly organised team sport in suits, with few rules, no referee, an open bar, and a doorless sin bin.
And like a team that only starts training the week before a big match, those of us in the bleachers aren’t that surprised to see the LNP’S favoured strategy of demanding their opposing side reveal their strategy first isn’t holding up when it comes to climate. It worked well when the issue was successfully portrayed as ‘Lefty, woke, hysteria,’ and those in the media who enjoy first dibs on announcements from the PM’S office dared not rock the boat, so played along. Retired fire chiefs? Ignored. Teenage crusader Greta Thunberg? Mocked. Protesting schoolkids? ‘Brainwashed.’ Reef scientists? ‘We’ve found one who disagrees.’ And so on, as the canary in the coal mine whistled its warnings and drought and floodaffected farmers called for action, the political agenda was set by mining billionaires with so much to gain by doing nothing.
Who can forget our PM handing a lump of coal around parliament, telling the Opposition, “This is coal,” (snigger snigger) “Don’t be afraid, don’t be scared”?
Anyway, instead of planning for a sustainable future, these fossil fools mounted an ongoing fear campaign to convince mine workers their skills couldn’t be transferred to other resources and that coal was the only way forward.
The climate denial narrative told to everyday Aussies rang hollow when insurance companies, which calculate risk, declined to
insure coal projects, and once overseas investors got leery, our PM and his mates had to be seen to act, so came up with the biggest furphy of all time – ‘The Gas-led Recovery’, touting grey and blue hydrogen, produced by fossil fuels, as the answer.
Energy Minister Angus Taylor talked up burying emissions in the soil and billionaire Gina Rinehart said average farmers couldn’t afford solar, despite her holdings saving 84 per cent on diesel fuel in one year alone.
Thankfully another mining
magnate, Dr Twiggy Forrest, who after seeing the effects of iron ore industries like his on oceans and the climate, undertook a PHD in Marine Ecology.
He addressed the National Press Club this week, calling out the fearmongers in the National Party who are holding the country’s climate action to ransom by convincing coal workers there will be no jobs in a renewable energy future.
There are, plenty of them, and they’re ongoing, with investors keen to move ahead. Dr Forrest said green hydrogen is the best boom we’ll ever have, that renewable energy will never run out, and we won’t cook the planet in the process. So, with Sun Metals and Edify Energy already moving to green zinc and green hydrogen, and the sole Aussie solar panel maker expanding operations, (hey, come to Townsville!) we need more Dr Forrests and less Canavans, Mckenzies, Morrisons and Taylors to steer us in the right direction for ongoing jobs, a healthy planet and a sustainable future.
So, sacking anti-vax cops and nurses means we get rid of nurses who don’t believe in medical science and cops who don’t believe in keeping the public safe. Sorry but I’m not seeing a downside here. JACK, ADALE
As I peruse the Mission Zero pages l look at all the land that the renewables (solar, wind turbines and huge batteries) will take up and what of their disposal. By this date the world population will also have dramatically increased, needing more agriculture to feed the masses. A lot more research is required is my thoughts.
M J REYNOLDS, MT LOUISA
I have heard some say that Jim Chambers is a future shining light in federal Labor, fair dinkum, you would get more light out of a glow worm.
RON, KELSO
Doc Condon, my school has put a lot of solar panels on the roof of our hall, so that even despite the air cons, lighting, fans, etc. are running for about six hours straight, the school is still being charged for putting so much power back into the grid.
MATT, 4818
QPS suspends an officer on full pay for six years while undertaking an investigation. The WWII Nuremberg trials took one year for dozens of accused. The public service has no accountability for our money and simply don't care about it. It’s no wonder our state is in debt.
TOM, ROWES BAY
With Coalition-led NSW hopefully joining the rest of the states in legalising VAD, Phillip Thompson and Susan Mcdonald need to speak up and push the federal Coalition to fix the Commonwealth Criminal Code.
STEVE, BELGIAN GARDENS
Jenny Hill’s problem is that she likes to hop, skip, jump from one project to another. Then projects are not
completed well or short cuts have been carried out to the detriment of the community. JR, 4810
News flash to our three sitting members of the Labor Party. Victims are voters and are steadily mounting up. CRIS, WULGURU
Good night last night at stocky bus stops. Nine police units required. Group of 30. Gotta love Townsville. MICHAEL SPALDING IN DOUGLAS
I see our local windbag Aaron Harper and his colleagues have put the horse before the cart by rushing through the assisted suicide bill. Firstly they are still to propose and finalise the guidelines on how the program will be run and now those in regions are left out. As was said by many during the debate, this assisted suicide bill only helps those in major cities, just like access to quality palliative care.
NEIL, NORTH WARD
The reason Gladstone achieved the hydrogen project is that with the assistance of the Palaszczuk Govt, they began practical work on it more than 18 months ago. Townsville only began talking about it a few months ago. JEFF, CONDON