Do emus bury their heads in the sand?

When it comes to climate change, the land of my birth seems to be spending far too much time looking on the rear vision mirror when it could be embracing the future with gusto and excitement.

Too many Australian politicians appear to be stuck in the 'Denial' phase of the Kubler-Ross change curve – unable or unwilling to accept the reality of climate change. Leadership today is all about helping people to want to change. Too many of Australia's leaders seem to be exhibiting the polar opposite.

Even after years of increasingly devastating bushfires, more frequent wild weather events and the dramatic bleaching of our precious Great Barrier Reef, Australia boasts the second highest proportion of climate change sceptics of any nation, behind the US. More than one in five Australians declared that "global warming is a hoax perpetrated by scientists" in a 2017 study of 1000 Australians by Essential Research. Meanwhile, we are the second highest producer of CO2 gases per head of population among large, industrialised countries - again, behind the US.

Yet, we accepted the science of global warming once before. When the global use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) opened an enormous and deadly hole in the ozone layer, we didn't dispute the science. We simply accepted the facts, removed CFCs and adapted our lives accordingly.

But today we seem to be frightened of making the change. This fear is an entirely normal reaction to change, but rather than working to quell our fears, our leaders have decided to stoke them instead. Playing on fear is lazy politics. It may win elections, but it is a disastrous strategy for the future of our nation.

There are three undeniable truths when it comes to climate change that even the most climate-change sceptic will acknowledge:

1. The greenhouse effect is real.Solar energy absorbed at the Earth's surface is radiated and absorbed by 'greenhouse gases' in our atmosphere, keeping the planet 'warm'. Without it, most of the Earth would be a frozen wasteland and we probably wouldn't even exist.

2. Global CO2 levels in our atmosphere have increased dramaticallysince the industrial revolution. According to NASA, atmospheric CO2 levels have fluctuated between 180 and 290 parts per million (ppm) for the last 400,000 years. In the last century it has shot up to more than 409 ppm and is still rising.

3. This dramatic increase in CO2 levels has coincided with a ten-fold increase in human-produced CO2 emissions during the same period.

What seems to be disputed by populist politicians and their media cheerleaders is any link between #3 and #2; that the dramatic increase in human-produced CO2 is the likely cause of the dramatic rise in CO2 levels in the atmosphere.

The lazy politics that is anchoring the nation to a 'lucky' but finite past appears to be fuelled by the simple fact that Australia is the world's largest exporter of coal.

"From a climate perspective, nothing is worse than burning coal"

Burning coal produces so much CO2 that driving the latest fuel-efficient petrol cars can produce fewer greenhouse gases than driving an electric car that is recharged using electricity from a coal-fired power plant, according to research from China.

There is no such thing as 'clean coal'. Burning natural gas emits 50 to 60 percent less CO2 and, of course, wind, hydro, geo-thermal and solar produce 100% fewer emissions.

Solar is the cheapest way to produce electricity and yet residents of the 'Sunburnt Country' endure some of the highest energy bills in the world. With its world-class universities, enormous coastline, vast land mass, abundant sunshine and small population, Australia could be a global leader in renewable energy and associated technologies. Surely, we owe it to future generations to fulfil this potential?

The worst climate money can buy

And yet politicians and vocal sections of the media have constructed a web of fear and misinformation about the subject.

Coal = prosperity?Yes, for shareholders of coal producers. Swiss-based Glencore is Australia's largest coal producer, Chinese-controlled Yancoal Is #3. 86% of the Australian mining industry is foreign owned, according to The Australia Institute.

Coal = government revenues? Several coal companies pay corporation tax, but too many profits accrue outside of Australia. Coal producers delivered less than 1 per cent of Commonwealth government revenue in 2013. Even in sun-drenched yet coal-obsessed Queensland coal revenues have dropped to less than 3 per cent of this year's state budget. Not great returns for the billions spent subsidising the coal industry.

Coal = jobs?In November 2018, the industry employed fewer than 50,000 people, less than 0.4 per cent of Australia's total workforce. In 2014, politicians declared that Adani's new Carmichael mine would create at least 10,000 jobs. The company was later forced to admit that the mine would create just 1,464 new jobs – and only 100 of these will be ongoing.

Green energy = fewer jobs? More nonsense. Green energy equals more jobs, according to numerous reports on the subject from the likes of EY & The Climate Council and RMIT. Investing in renewable energy and technologies will create jobs in industries that are sustainable - for generations.

Green energy = unreliable power. Australia has one of the world's largest reserves of natural gas (75 per cent of which is exported). Using gas-fired power stations to provide the baseload, leveraging our abundant non-fossil-fuel natural resources and investing heavily in battery technology, Australia's power could be the greenest, cheapest and most reliable in the world – and fuel a host of exciting new industries and jobs for the next generation and beyond.

Australia's leaders need to accept the science and help Australia to be at the forefront of the low-carbon economy of the future. There is still time.

But it will require change.