The Green Run Blog Ramblings from a half hearted greeny

The ETS and the Libs

Well it's definitely been a tumultuous week in Australian politics! I think the ABC has covered the problems facing Turnbull in much greater depth than I care to. The interesting thing - or in fact, the mind blowing thing here is the seeming lack of rational thought on display from the Liberal party collectively.

The comment from Gillard that the climate change deniers seem to be taking over the liberal party has the ring of truth about it. What are they thinking? I can only imagine the thought process as going like this: "Hmmm, lots of people are saying climate change isn't happening. They must be right" . This overlooks the obvious fact that while a small percentage of the 20 odd million people in Australia is still a significant number of people, there are even more of us that realise that human action is likely responsible for climate change.

Here are the facts as I see them:

• Climate change is likely to occur over the next century, with huge ecological and financial impact
• This is due to human activity
• The majority of all voters, and the great majority of some segments of voters, are in favour of doing something about it
• The ETS proposed by the Rudd government is an attempt to do something.

Here's the thing- I'm not at all sure that the ETS will be an effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. I would rather see more focus on things like a massive push towards renewable energy and carbon storage as biochar (imagine if we had spent all of that stimulus money on renewables). But at least we are trying something. If it doesn't work, we can continue to adjust and change the details of the ETS over time. I see this as a starting framework that is being put in place while pleasing all of the interest groups. Once it's locked in, we can build on that foundation. The position of the Libs seems to be: 'let's do nothing'. They could actually achieve something worthwhile here by proposing a credible alternative or worthwhile amendments. It's sad to see instead that they are tearing themselves apart and probably removing any credible voice on alternatives to government policy development for the next 4-8 years.