But the man most culpable is John Winston Howard. Hamilton’s central theme is that political action is the only reliable way to tackle global warming, and that for over a decade Australia has been especially ill-served by its Prime Minister.
The Howard Government’s diabolical conduct on climate change should be understood properly by all Australians, whatever their political sympathies on other issues. Hamilton contends that “[going] back as far as Federation, it is hard to think of a political and policy failure … so damaging to the long-term national interest and so reckless in its disregard for the welfare of future generations of Australians”.
Forget the dishonest excuses. Scientists can’t agree; the “economic” costs of action would be too high; China’s to blame; Australia’s emissions don’t matter; clean-coal technology will save us eventually - Hamilton blows all these canards out of the water.
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For over a decade the Howard Government has strenuously protected the profits of the fossil-fuel sector - the coal, oil, cement, aluminum and mining industries. Their insiders have literally written government policy, to the virtual exclusion of all other interested parties. The role of Howard’s environment ministers - Robert Hill, David Kemp, Ian Campbell - has been “to cover up inaction”. Hill also played a key role in the shameful machinations at Kyoto.
Why did Howard encourage all this? Hamilton suggests a mixture of secondary motives: instinctive disdain for environmentalism generally, fear of displeasing the powerful fossil-fuel lobby, closeness to the Bush administration, personal friendship with the likes of Hugh Morgan, the opportunities to wedge Labor.
But, says Hamilton, even these factors are swamped by two others.
The first is Howard’s narrow conception of the “national interest”. He equates export dollars - principally from coal - with present and future prosperity. There are huge untapped markets in Asia. Howard’s dream was to see Australia as an “energy superpower”.
And for a long time he could pursue that dream, because of the uniqueness of climate change as an environmental problem. The effects of what Australia has done in the last 10 years will not be felt for decades. As Hamilton says, things would be very different if we all “had to live with the consequences of our own actions”.
Murray Hogarth is probably right that, for now, solutions must come before retribution. But in due course there is much to be said for Hogarth’s suggestion of a climate war crimes commission. Many Australians would be in the dock.
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