The Prime Minister has brushed off his failure to gain a speaking role at the Glasgow global warming summit as inconsequential. But the reality is that the Prime Minister and his government continue to fail us.
The rest of the world concludes we are pariahs with nothing worth saying or hearing.
Scott Morrison, you have failed even by your own benchmark. You have said you will not be dictated to by voices external to Australia but will be answerable to Australians alone. Good! The facts are that between 60% and 70% of Australians have made it clear they want a far stronger response to carbon emission reductions to tackle climate change than you are prepared to make.
So Mr Morrison, you have made it clear you are not accountable to Australians either. To whom are you accountable? Presumably, it is your friends in the mining industry whose financial interests are expected to be hit in the transition to renewable energy.
Mr Morrison, you have also failed those employed in the mining industry, and more specifically the coal mining industry. I spent eight happy and productive years in the Hunter Valley at the start of the mining boom. Prior to this the valley flourished on its dairies, equine industries, and vineyards. It is facing the next inevitable transition and desperately needs energy and investment in new industries based around a carbon neutral economy.
In maintaining your position against all the economic evidence to the contrary, you are denying these women and men a smooth transition starting now, leaving them with the prospect of falling off a cliff in the foreseeable future. This is both cruel and unnecessary. We know coal is in decline. We know there will never be another coal-fired power station. We know Liddell is closing. We know Bayswater will not continue indefinitely. Why are you leaving these employees directionless when they could begin to be excited about a future as equally prosperous as the past, without the ugliness in which the valley is now being left?
Mr Morrison, you have failed the scientists. The science of global warming has been clear for decades. Strategies to meet the challenge have also been clear. Because of policy failure by successive governments over decades the challenge is now infinitely more demanding than it need have been, the seriousness of the situation more acute, and the cost of action far higher.
Mr Morrison, you have failed your two daughters, indeed all children who face a monumental task if their world is not to be a shadow of the world we have been accustomed to enjoy. It is no wonder that children are taking the lead in demanding action. I hope the action currently before the courts, taken by children who claim government inaction is stealing their future, is successful.
Mr Morrison, you are failing the Australian economy. By now we should have been well down the track in the development of new industries and new exports such as liquid hydrogen. You may think you are doing the right thing by protecting current sources of income, but in reality you are failing to build strong foundations for the economies of the future which Australia is more than capable of leading.
Mr Morrison, you are failing our neighbours in the Pacific. How you can attend meetings with Islander leaders without severe embarrassment I do not know. You know full well that some Islander nations are already in real peril.
Mr Morrison, you are failing the conservative tradition. A true conservative is one who wishes to conserve, who wants to protect culture, values, traditions and resources that are meritorious. Are you a conservative only in the sense that you wish to protect what is held in private hands? Our most precious commodities are common and protecting them is the solemn duty of those who govern.
Mr Morrison, you have said the most sacred duty of government is to keep its people safe. The greatest exponential threat facing Australians is climate change. We are already reaping its fury. We are sadly on the threshold of a new normal, and it is not a pleasant one. If you seriously believe you have a duty to keep us safe, then you are bound, by weight of office, to act.
Above all, Mr Morrison, you are failing the total environment upon which we all depend for our wellbeing. In Covid you and the premiers wisely concluded that putting health first was the best way to shore the economy. Put the economy first and both health and the economy would collapse.
How can you not see the same parallel with climate change? Human economic activity is completely dependent upon the health and balance of the natural environment. We have no resources other than those that are drawn from the natural order. Prioritise the environment and long-term economic health will be protected. Ignore the health of the environment and the foundations of civil society will crumble.
Mr Morrison, it is not at all surprising that you have been denied a voice at the table. You have nothing to say; nothing worthwhile to offer. It is reported that you wanted to say that Australia would not depend upon its Kyoto credits to meet its 2030 target. In school, students are not considered meritorious simply because they announce they are not intending to cheat.
In one sense federal energy and climate policy is increasingly irrelevant. The states are taking the lead. Farmers are taking the lead. Householders are taking things into their own hands. The business council is setting ambitious targets. But the national government should not be irrelevant. We look to you to lead, set a standard, stretch our ambitions.
Why you continue to fail us I simply do not understand.
George Browning was Anglican Bishop of Canberra Goulburn 1993 – 2008. He was President of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network 2013 – 2022. He is now its Patron. He is also Patron of Palestinian Christians in Australia, and of the Palestinian ecumenical liberation theology centre -Sabeel.
Comments
17 responses to “Prime Minister: Saying you no longer intend to cheat on climate change does not merit applause”
Thank you Bishop George. Good use of apostrophe in your open letter to Mr Morrison. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Australia’s combined domestic and export emissions, i.e. which together with Saudi Arabia and Russia is the largest, constitutes the underlying factor of current politics.
It appears the current PM gained favor with the hydrocarbon industry and its mouthpieces in the media, in particular since he took his oath by presenting a lump of coal in Parliament.
Which is in principle not all that different from the situation world-wide, where politics mostly follow the money.
A powerful article! It’s worth emphasising the point that Morrison claims he won’t be told what to do by voices outside Australia while being totally subservient to the multinational fossil fuel industry.
The impression I get is that Morrison is not sincere – even looking at recent rhetoric and passing over the lump of coal incident, does anyone really believe he leads a government genuinely committed to strong climate action to achieve the total displacement of fossil fuels?
I cannot help wonder if the insincerity is an intentional feature rather than failure – turning a pledge to put Australia on the road to zero emissions into something his climate change responsibility denying hard Right supporters will interpret as an insincere and ironic bow to supposed Political Correctness – that imaginary grand global green dictatorship that somehow forces scientists to say it is real and that prevents open expression of contrary views. Brazenly lying and saying he takes it seriously when he does not becomes an act of resistance to tyranny and somehow, noble. And abiding by international climate agreements (in their special dog-whistle language) becomes something forced upon Australia by unaccountable outside conspiracy, not something they would choose if they had a choice.
Am I being paranoid or is Morrison’s lot more Trumpian than Trump when it comes to achieving their pro fossil fuels agenda?
George,
A very powerful statement, which your brother Bishops in the Catholic as well as the Anglican tradition should be shouting from the roof tops. But will Morrison listen when he still does not hear the voice of the people?
Two recent events are of importance. The great roles played by state and territory leaders who are acting independently on climate change and China’s ban on our coal exports. While China’s reasons are political, it is the best wake up call to the Coal Industry and its supporters in the COALition yet. Fossil fuels are definitely on the way out.I feel so sorry for the workers who are in dead end employment with no Plan B from this government and even more so for my children and grandchildren who will inherit this mess.
This was originally sent to the Age as a letter but they did not publish it. Most of it is obvious, but it is the religious aspect that is most interesting and about which we know so little.
“One has to ask why Scott Morrison is so resistant to taking real action on climate change, the disastrous effects of which are now becoming increasingly obvious to everyone. His reported view that climate policy will be set in Australia and not just to get a slot in an international summit appeals to his electoral supporters and is very much in line with what John Howard used to say. It shows no regard for international solidarity.
Several reasons might suggest his obdurant attitude. First is the extreme right of the LNP who are climate change deniers and still seem to hold considerable power in the party. Secondly, there are the LNP’s obligations to the large fossil fuel corporations, especially the coal miners, who want to continue their polluting activities, even where the rest of the world is moving towards renewable energy.
Thirdly, there is Morrison’s own apparent stubbornness and, as a marketing ploy, a desire to present himself as a strong man looking after Australia’s interests. Another Howard trope. Finally, and most speculative, are his religious beliefs. Does he believe, after all, that we are living in the “end-times” and that this process of ending–increasingly common in some Christian groups–should not be hindered, because the second coming will occur?”
Though practising the prosperity gospel, a refusal to face the possibility of the extinction of the human race seems inconsistent with god’s reward to the faithful prosperous.
I think we have finally reached the point where we no longer have any representative form of government.
Many do not understand that “carbon neutrality” is no longer sufficient and that the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases is now so high (412 ppm CO2 and <500 ppm equivalent, a value which includes methane and nitrous oxide) as to generate amplifying feed backs from land and ocean (warming oceans sequester less CO2). Without serious attempts to draw-down (sequester) CO2 mean global temperatures are going to rise further, possibly 3 or 4 degrees Celsius toward the end of the century. (https://www.carbonbrief.org/what-is-a-4c-world#:~:text=The%20idea%20of%20a%20four,compared%20to%20pre%2Dindustrial%20levels.)
Powerful piece George.
Of course the states and territories can achieve a lot – and thankfully they are. But only the federal govt can (or could) make things happen at scale, in a coordinated fashion, with the urgency required. And only the federal govt has the ability to make Australia the middle-power leader it should be on this.
For their failings, the politicians and their mates who have failed us so abysmally will burn in hell. But their children and grandchildren will burn with ours on planet earth.
There is a vision of Morrison and his relationship with the fossil fuel industry that is etched forever into the minds of the electorate, and he knows it, and in his solitary moments, he is deeply embarrassed by it. This is the vignette of our current PM, marketing genius, caressing a lump of coal on the front benches of the House of Representatives, speaking softly to it and to all who would listen. “It is just a lump of coal. Do not be afraid of it. It can’t hurt you!” And his colleagues guffawed and slapped their sides in admiration. It is unusual for Morrison to leave such a permanent video record behind when it come to taking sides on such a fraught issue as fossil fuels and their role in climate change.
In 2000, Morrison was sacked from Tourism New Zealand concerning (apparently) issues around performance and conduct; but there are no records to confirm the reasons. Morrison was sacked by the Federal Liberal Minister as Managing Director of Tourism Australia in 2006 and no records apparently exist for the ‘misdemeanor’ despite FOI requests. In 2018, Morrison unseated Turnbull as PM with one arm around Malcolm proclaiming, “He is my leader” and no trace exists of managing a remarkable coup. As PM, Morrison reasoned it was better to spend Christmas in Hawaii in 2019/20 and leave the difficult task of fighting bush fires to the State Premiers. Although initially slow to respond to the pandemic, the National Cabinet of Premiers is vintage Morrison – be seen to be leading the charge but from behind a phalanx of Premiers who will take ultimate responsibility for individual failures; but in the event of collective success, that will be claimed by the PM.
Morrison finds it personally very difficult to make U-turns on previous positions he has taken. This lump of coal has left its dust marks indelibly stained on his hands. He will wash them very slowly in such a way as to remove the evidence, the electorate memory will eventually fade, and he will proclaim, “I have always believed in climate change. We will meet our targets in a canter.” But he will leave the heavy lifting to the States where, if things go wrong, nothing to see here; but if the States & industry collectively succeed to reduce carbon emissions, the credit will be Morrison’s.
Over time the question of abolishing the states has been posed in discussions. But this year, with the successful COVID responses and recent announcements by the states, the fingers should now be pointed at Canberra.
In the meantime, I am not supposed to post links, but I recommend the lastest Youtube video from The Juice Media for viewing pleasure and sharing.
Richard, I must disagree with you in part: let’s not blame the people of Canberra or the ACT government for the current situation. That responsibility lies firmly with the LNP, led now by Morrison. That said, I followed up the link you suggested (google for “Government Ad” and Kyoto) and it is an excellent expose of the nonsense being put forward by the current Prime Minister and his mob. A caution on strong language for anyone sensitive though. 🙂
By “Canberra”, I meant the Federal Government. Those of us who live elsewhere, even if we enjoy our occasional visits, tend to overlook the fact real people actually live there. Apologies.
My Lord Bishop, so well spoken. This Prime Minister has well and truly abdicated the throne of his authority and responsibility and has chosen to bow down before the altar of big business. I fear his Johnny come lately brand of Christianity is too Madison Ave centred and that he has forgotten both the Stable of Bethlehem and the commonweal of the Australian Citizenry.
Given the commitment by all states and territiories to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, the Commonwealth need commit only to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 in Jervis Bay. Should the tensions in the Coalition be too great, why not compromise and have the Morrison Government committing to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 over just half the area of Jervis Bay? That would be a sensible start.
A bit too ambitious for the current Canberra crew.
“Zero emissions by 2050” would still allow coal and gas exports, which constitute the bulk of the emissions originating in Australia (https://publish.pearlsandirritations.com/the-myth-of-zero-net-emissions-by-2050/)