Australia under new mismanagement?

In a BBC interview Environment Minister Greg Hunt was confronted with Tony Abbott's infamous line , that "climate change is absolute crap" . Hunt became indignant at the language used saying, that it had been taken out of context. Why only today the Prime Minister said that 'as he had often said , climate change is real.

Hunt was also mocked with his use of the secondary and unreliable source of Wikipedia to back up Tony Abbott's refutation of the links between extreme weather events and global warming. Abbott had disparaged UN Head of climate change negotiation Christiana Figueres as "talking through her hat". In an interview on Fairfax radio Abbott disputed her assertion of the clear links between the fires in NSW and global warming.

Nor are we sending our Environment Minister Greg Hunt, or a senior government official (with the authority to negotiate) to the UN Climate talks in Warsaw. Instead Hunt must stay t home like a poor Cinderella scrubbing away and busily repealing the carbon price

This is a huge snub by Australia to global cooperation on setting emissions targets. Australia has the highest per capita emissions of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development) countries and some of the highest world wide.

Furthermore Abbott has announced the scrapping of twenty advisory boards, including the Advisory Board on Positive Aging. This committee is just 6 months away from completion of a report.

I have wrestled with my depression and despair at the election of Tony Abbott for the highest position in the land. I have not seen evidence that he is up to the job; ethically intellectually; internationally, and in terms of a vision for all Australians.

The recent speech by John Howard in London could have been a matched blue print to Abbott's current espoused intentions and his style.

Howard has said that he is agnostic when it comes to climate change. He considers the claims about global warming ( of the majority of world scientists) to be "exaggerated".

Howard confesses that he has read only one book on global warming by notoriously scientifically inaccurate sceptic Lord Nigel Lawson.

Howard prefers to go on his gut feelings. and scoffs at the over use of experts, ( except of expert deniers) to advise government. Howard did not explain if he would apply this credo to (the science of ) medical treatment , for himself or his family.

Howard also confessed to going with global warming as real and an emissions trading scheme because he perceived this to be an electoral necessity in 2006. But he never really believed.

Abbott denies having read the Howard speech titled "One Religion is Enough" (presumably his own) but its not a long shot to assume he has heard the words before. He refused to speak to the Fairfax journalist but received a comforting departing pat on the shoulder by another of his mentors Allan Jones.