‘Tax [fossil fuels] as much as you please’
‘‘UNLIKE any storm we have had in anybody’s memory’’, said Georgia’s state Governor, as Hurricane Michael approached Florida, bringing 4m storm surges, and winds of 250kmh. But it won’t be the last ‘‘worst ever’’ storm.
President Trump said the federal government was ‘‘coordinating with all the states that could be impacted’’, but didn’t mention the reason such storms are becoming more frequent and more severe — greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting climate change. But what can be expected of a childish 72yearold, who believes only his own fantasies?
Is New Zealand much better, though?
As Hurricane Michael was about to hit Florida the Prime Minister, in a postCabinet press conference, attacked fuel companies, claiming that ‘‘consumers are being fleeced’’ and to be ‘‘hugely disappointed in the level of price that consumers are currently paying at the pump for petrol’’.
That seems ingenuous, given that a significant part of the petrol price is made up of tax (excise and GST, plus, in Auckland, a regional fuel tax) and that about 75% of the recent price rise has been due to increases in international oil prices and the fall of the NZ dollar. Populism rules politics in New Zealand, as well as in the US, it seems.
There may be some value in the Prime Minister’s intention to open the oil industry to investigation by the Commerce Commission — there are apparently unjustified price differences across the country — but any price reductions as a result are likely to be only regional, and trivial.
Reducing the taxes on petrol and diesel, as some have demanded, would be stupid. Income from those taxes is desperately needed to reverse three decades of underinvestment in transport infrastructure, particularly rail and other public transport.
But even more important is reducing the apparently insatiable thirst for such fuels, in light of the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released the day after Ms Ardern’s accusation.
A little over a year ago she said ‘‘climate change is my generation’s nuclearfree moment’’. But it’s much more significant than that. The nuclearfree movement responded to the threat of nuclear war, hopefully never again acted upon. Climate change is already happening, and rapidly worsening.
The IPCC reports that limiting global warming to 1.57degC above preindustrial levels (essential to reduce the risk of irreversible change) requires ‘‘rapid and farreaching’’ transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport and cities. One of those transitions must be a sharp reduction in fossil fuel use.
New Zealand contributes only a fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions, but its record is appalling: road vehicle emissions increased 80% from 1990 to 2015. They must come down.
Higher, not lower, prices for fossil fuels are needed, together with massive improvements in public transport, rail and road, at low cost to the user, to discourage unnecessary fuel use. With global warming a greater threat to humanity than was World
War 2, A.A. Milne’s 1940 verse (adapted) seems strangely relevant: ‘‘Others are fighting, and Death ever present/Swoops from the sky and spouts up from the sea/What can I do? I can pay and look pleasant/Tax [fossil fuels] as much as you please.’’
Years ago, owning a small business, Civis conducted job interviews with prospective employees. But never one like that recently screened worldwide, as Brett Kavanaugh was interviewed for one of the most important jobs in the United States, and illustrated the dysfunction of contemporary US constitutional bodies. The hearing wasn’t a criminal trial (requiring proof beyond reasonable doubt) but was supposed to ensure that the nominee was suitable for the job. This one clearly wasn’t.
Even if one accepted the ridiculous suggestion that Dr Ford mistook the identity of the drunk who tried to rape her, Judge Kavanaugh’s aggressive, contemptuous response to her testimony, and blatant lies about his student boozing, should have disqualified him from a job requiring calm, unbiased judgement.
But partisan politics Trumped integrity.