GLOBAL warming activism ranks among the greatest gifts ever handed to centre-right political parties.
Not even the combination of Liberal Party founder RG Menzies and anti-communist combatant BA Santamaria managed to inflict such damage on left-leaning politicians.
The so-called great “moral challenge” has morphed into the great career destroyer. Just ask Bill Shorten, Malcolm Turnbull, Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd. And it seems NSW Liberal climate activist MP Matt Kean is set to join them after being savaged by Prime Minister Scott Morrison (see video below).
The dishonour roll of climate politicians relegated to history’s dumpster in the past decade is simply staggering.
Incredibly, in that time, climate policy has prematurely destroyed the careers of three Prime Ministers and two opposition leaders. That’s every PM and every opposition leader Australia has had since 2009, save one (PM Tony Abbott).
Every one of them was turfed out early over their extreme climate positions. By comparison Liberal PM John Howard, who rarely ever mentioned the weather, enjoyed almost 12 years at the top.
And there’s a simple lesson to be learned by the current crop of starry-eyed new comers: climate politics is poison.
It may be trendy among public servants and the vocal café set, but it is anathema to quiet Australians. Those whose jobs are being destroying and whose utility costs are mindlessly increasing.
Yet, despite the dangers, there remains a queue of so-called moderate and left-leaning Liberal parliamentarians who want a piece of this malignant action. Why? Well, you’d have to imagine lobbyists from the heavily subsidised renewable sector may have “spoken” to them.
They’d be wiser to learn from recent history and run in the opposite direction.
Climate politics has failed to record a single upside for climate politicians. Instead, it has delivered a seemingly endless flow of tears from Australia’s most senior MPs. A brief history is below.
BILL SHORTEN
Former opposition leader Labor’s Bill Shorten lost the unlosable 2019 federal election after he labelled it the “Climate Change Election”. He also lost his job as Labor leader.
During the 2019 campaign he threatened to ban 50 per cent of our family sedans, close down mining jobs and remake Australia in the image of inner city hippies. The luvvies were rapturous. They even organised travelling demonstrations – venturing outside their safe city spaces to protest mining towns.
This was a mistake. The luvvies were told “what for” by baying crowds of everyday regional Aussies.
Hilariously, many demonstrators were refused service by regional shop owners – they couldn’t even buy a drink, apparently – and were quickly dispatched back to their city semis, humiliated and thirsty.
The result? Shorten’s expected 80+ seat winning haul turned into an embarrassing loss. More so the next day when he had to unpack the removal trucks he’d prematurely filled for his expected relocation to the PM’s Lodge.
MALCOLM TURNBULL
Malcolm Turnbull was dumped as Prime Minister by his Liberal Party colleagues in 2018 for the exact same reason he was dumped as Party leader by his Liberal Party colleagues in 2009; his harebrained climate policies.
That he had attempted to run for Parliament as a Labor Party candidate before being rejected – and turning to the Liberal Party instead – is indicative of his ideological position on pretty much everything, especially climate activism.
JULIA GILLARD
Former Labor PM Julia Gillard promised in 2010 that “there will be no carbon tax under a government I lead” during that year’s federal election campaign.
Within weeks of being returned as a minority government she betrayed the electorate, signed a cosy deal with The Greens and before we knew it, the real Julia had delivered her shiny new carbon tax.
Gillard instantly became known as “Juliar” (instead of Julia). And her opinion polls tanked so badly that her Labor Party colleagues, in an effort save their own jobs, were forced to dump her mid-term.
Her knifing didn’t help much. The Liberal Party trounced Labor at the following 2013 federal election on a promise to repeal Julia’s carbon tax – and to secure the borders she & Labor had opened to tens of thousands of illegal arrivals.
KEVIN RUDD
Kevin Rudd was among the most popular PMs in Australian history. After his election in 2007, the sustained height of his personal opinion polling was jaw-dropping.
But then he described global warming as the “greatest moral challenge of our generation”. And things began to turn sour. Emissions Trading Schemes, mining taxes and his wasteful Copenhagen climate jolly with half of Canberra in tow saw his poll numbers begin to plummet.
Rudd went from being the most to the least popular PM within a matter of months – and he was shaken. He become abusive, accusatory and impossible to work with, according to his ALP mates.
Not long after, in 2010, they dragged him kicking, screaming and crying out of his job before his first term was up.
INDOCTRINATED
Climate is a curse. But it’s one Leftist politicians can’t escape, no matter how much they’d like to. This is because their inner-city base has been indoctrinated. For many of them, global warming is a faith substitute.
This is precisely why climate activism is the greatest political gift ever handed to centre-right parties.
So long as they don’t screw it up by voluntarily converting to this cursed “religion”.PC
Renewables are a threat to landfill !
It’s about time our politicians showed the colour of their convictions and stopped pandering to the loony left in the hope for a few votes.
Most Conservatives feel they don’t have a party to speak for them.
Fossil fuel has had 150 years head start on ‘current’ renewables. They seem to do ok with very little subsidy – growth through desire and interest in the economics by businesses and home owners. Labour/jobs are there for installers and maintenance (sprinkled through the population areas and country areas) Renewables are a threat to what?