Living in the thrall of climate change

We are presently in the thrall of climate change.

Clive Palmer.

Decades in which we could have truly abated the worst of what is happening have collapsed under deluge of rhetoric, doubt and controversy, leaving the world committed to comprehending, and dealing with the outcome of an experiment, which will bring difficulties we don’t yet understand.

Many Australians have worked tirelessly to the public awareness of the seriousness inherent in climate change, but the Australian Government, led by a Prime Minister who has declared climate change to be “crap”, has worked with a perverse diligence to dismantle most everything aimed at preparing the country to play its part in addressing climate change.

Amid much misplace whoopin’ and hollerin’, and political machinations; the Tony Abbott led coalition has finally brought to reality is signature legislation of “Direct Action”.

With Environment Minster, Greg Hunt led the assault on Australia’s climate change infrastructure and to get the government’s Direct Action policy adopted, he won the support of Clive Palmer of the Palmer United Party and independents, Nick Xenophon and John Madigan.

The Melbourne Age has editorialised about these development in a piece headed: “The long, painful path to an ETS” and has argued this could be a necessary step in getting back to an emissions-trading scheme.

Australia was once among world’s leaders with its carbon tax, but now it seems to get something similar, we to follow this convoluted path.

Part of the deal to the PUP support the Direct Action legislation saw agreement from the government to see the Climate Change Authority conduct an 18 month inquiry the effectiveness of emission trading schemes around the world.

Confusingly, Mr Hunt has said that the coalition would never back any scheme and so leave taxpayers rather expensive cost for achieving nothing.

The Abbott-led government is presently prosecuting a joint police taskforce to uncover illegal activity within Victoria's unions.

The circumstances are clearly different, but surely there are legal similarities between what our trade unions have allegedly been up to and what the Federal Government has openly declared it will be doing – conducting a massively expensive inquiry with, by its own admission, absolutely no intention of acting upon what it recommends, certainly if it suggests Australia should, and must, embrace some sort of emission trading scheme.