LABOR’S former king maker Graham Richardson has declared climate change politics dead and buried as the Australian economy faces more important challenges.
He said a shift away from renewable energy was a post-COVID “fact” — regardless of the ructions it would cause within his own political Party.
“I don’t think we can chase up that rat hole now – we’ve got others to chase,” he said on Sky News yesterday.
EXAGGERATED
“We’ve got real problems and, if you’ll pardon the pun, global warming goes on the back burner for some time now.”
Mr Richardson, who served as Environment Minister under former prime minister Bob Hawke, aired his views as federal Labor MPs publicly battled over climate policies – and for the “soul of the Party”.
Leading the charge against Labor’s radicalised environmental wing is Shadow Resources Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, who claimed job numbers flowing from renewable energy had been “exaggerated”.
Mr Fitzgibbon said increasing gas production would be essential to create manufacturing jobs. He also talked up the use of carbon-capture and storage to keep younger coal-fired power stations running.
“We have so much gas waiting to be tapped. We can do that in an environmental way,” he told Sky News. “The ideologues have now moved on. They realise our coal-fired generators are now in decline, renewables can’t possibly offset the loss of that generation capacity in the coming decades. And now there is an opportunity … to promote the use of gas as we should do.”
IRRELEVANCE
Australian Workers Union national secretary Daniel Walton and Prime Minister Scott Morrison also backed gas projects to supply cheap energy to manufacturing.
But Labor’s extremist environmental wing, known as LEAN [Labor Environment Action Network], is pulling out all stops as it faces being relegated to irrelevance.
ALP energy spokesman Mr Mark Butler has made clear he will oppose a gas-led recovery from COVID-19 and urged the Morrison government to focus on subsidising more renewable energy.
“Scott Morrison and his government need to deliver a policy which incentivises renewable energy investment and modernises the Australian economy,” Mr Butler said.
“This government continues an anti-renewables agenda, refusing to capitalise on the huge benefits clean energy can bring to Australian households and businesses.”
FLIP-FLOP
ALP Left faction MP Kate Thwaites said the focus “must be on renewables”. “We will be selling Australia, and Australian jobs, short if we don’t take this opportunity,” she said.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has continued to flip-flop on his climate policy position.
In June he held out an olive branch to the prime minister on energy policy issues before quickly backtracking and publicly criticising his own MPs who subsequently supported Mr Morrison’s stand.
Mr Richardson, who continues to carry significant weight within ALP ranks, said in an opinion piece in The Australian last year that, while consumers like to feel good and speak lovingly of renewables, they wouldn’t wear price rises.
“That, unfortunately, is the direction prices will go at the moment if renewables like wind farms become more significant suppliers of our energy needs,” he wrote.
“Wishing and hoping won’t cut it. Price reductions must be readily seen if you want this technology adopted by the mob.”PC
Richo and Fitzgibbon are about the only hopes that Labor has, aside from the Labor wolverines and a few fellow travellers. Richo’s Labor Government under the respective stewardships of Hawke and Keating stayed in government for 13 years by building the economy, being tight with government spending, and working to build prosperity by advancing the joint interests of small business and the working man. The intellectual capital that that government could call on from its ranks certainly dwarfs the current pygmy status displayed in that regard by current Labor, which has long since abandoned the battlers, and mainly concentrates on appeasing fringe lunatic elements, which is very sad. The likes of Ben Chifley would be turning in their graves.
Chifley introduced the Snowy River Scheme and the Holden car, would smash a strike when necessary, believed in hard work and common sense, and Menzies cried when he died, as he understood his true worth. it would be fine for Labor to stay in the wilderness, except that good government is enhanced by an effective opposition. Worse still the current venereal type disease which afflicts the Greens and Labor’s left has long since spread to the left of the liberal party, and frighteningly constricts good government.
Singapore was once very poor, but by utilising efficiency, incentivisation and small government has eliminated poverty and delivered a great standard of living. Contrarily, current labor, the Greens and the liberal left are seemingly hell bent on impoverishing us all, and delivering Australia to the dustbin of history. The latter’s apparent first step being taken is to deprive us of the power of free speech, as a stepping stone to imposing a totalitarian Stalinist society upon us, accompanied by much statue toppling and the desecration of our proud historical traditions, such as the elimination of Anzac and Australia days.
If the population wishes to retain its living standards and quality of life, then its people must be prepared to fight for what they have. We’ve been here before, so should learn from history. In 1942 when our diggers were battling on the Kokoda Trail to save us from enslavement, wharfies refused to load their supplies, and were purposefully damaging American military equipment being landed, until American troops started firing at them, when they quickly folded. The greens and liberal and labor left may draw joint strength from being on a self destructive unity ticket, but are of a like ilk, and can be similarly seen off.
Common Anthony, you’re a decent, respectable bloke but the tail is wagging the dog when it comes to renewables.
Get back to Labor’s core values of looking after the workers. Many are in the resources industries not in renewables.
Push for more manufacturing in Australia [for which we need cheap clean coal fired stations] dismantled years ago by Labor and union policies in the past – striking for more money that broke the back on prices for our manufactured goods, sending work overseas.
Abandon the quest for votes from the Greens.
How can you seriously post this moronic garbage? For god’s sake, at least do a minute’s basic research