The politics of climate change in Australia

Politicians are often more effective as campaigners out of office than ministers in office.

Much the same could be said about scientists. Apparently most Australian scientists do believe that climate change is largely human-induced. But they have failed to communicate their views to the general public. Instead, the currently biggest selling Australian book on this subject is written by a scientist who is a “climate change denier” (Ian Plimer Heaven + Earth: Global Warming: The Missing Science, Ballan, Victoria: Connor Court, 2009).

Fear works

It is now the turn of “climate change deniers” to use fear as a weapon. They are arguing that any CPRS would wreck the Australian economy and besides it is all a waste of time because it is unnecessary.

One of their most effective techniques has been to reinvent the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) as the “Extra Tax Scheme”. Australia has had four decades of politicians promising reduced taxes and so any hint of a new tax would be political suicide.

Conspiracy theorists

Many of the current climate change deniers have only recently started to address the issue; some may even have been willing earlier on to go along with the Kyoto process (such as Tony Abbott).

The long-term opponents of the human-induced climate change school have been around for several years. These “green hoaxers” have long argued that this is entirely a fictional problem to justify such drastic measures as the introduction of some form of “world government”. These extremists are delighted with Turnbull’s downfall and their new found political respectability.

Politics as a sport

Politics is increasingly a matter of “who will win” rather than “who is right”. The media are far more interested in the intrigue of who is doing what to whom - rather than trying to understand the substantive issue.

Opinion polls show that people are concerned that they are “not getting enough information”. Some of this may reflect a suspicion that Labor politicians are trying to pull the wool over their eyes.

But I think that more generally the mainstream media have done a poor job in explaining the details of the CPRS. The lack of substantive information has enabled opponents to fill the vacuum with alarmist claims on the potential loss of jobs and conspiracy theories.

“Protecting the environment costs jobs”

“If you are hungry and unemployed, eat a greenie”, was a New York bumper-sticker in an earlier wave of environmental concern. This shows the alleged tension between employment and protecting the environment. In the competition between the economy and environmental protection, environmental protection will always eventually lose out.

But need it lose out? The opponents of the Australian CPRS have been able to convince people that environmental protection will cause unemployment. The government has failed to provide a convincing public case of how environmental protection can boost the economy.

This is not a new issue. It seems amazing that a country that receives so much sunlight should not, for example, be an international leader in solar energy. All Australian governments have failed to make the most of a “green economy”. The Rudd government is also failing to reinvent the Australian economy.