A lump of coal - metaphor for a wretched year for Malcolm Turnbull

The moment that summed up the political year 2017 for me came in the first sitting week when treasurer Scott Morrison marched into parliament brandishing a lump of coal.

 ‘The marriage equality vote was a step forward for the nation,
but the process was expensive and needlessly divisive, the
May federal budget was rightly portrayed as Labor-lite, while
 a bank royal commission has been imposed on a reluctant government’

“This is coal – don’t be afraid, don’t be scared”, the treasurer cried out maniacally, before passing it along his front bench where Barnaby Joyce proceeded to fondle it like Gollum his precious ring.

The coal stunt was a none-too-subtle attempt to shift the focus of energy policy away from the imperative of transitioning to a renewable future by opening a new wave of investment in fossil fuels.

The premeditated stunt locked the Coalition in behind a coal lobby that had been running a coordinated campaign to besmirch renewables since an extreme weather event had led to blackouts in South Australia in late 2016.

The lump of coal act was also the final surrender by a prime minister who had built a public persona around his determination to take meaningful action on climate change.

Read the opinion piece by Peter Lewis on The Guardian - “A lump of coal - metaphor for a wretched year for Malcolm Turnbull.”