Scott Morrison says the government is acting on emissions. Is it true?

The prime minister says the Coalition is acting on emissions, meeting its targets and doing more than Labor did when in power. What’s the reality?

PM Scott Morrison.

Scott Morrison says Australia’s emissions are coming down. Are they?

No.

National emissions peaked in 2007, the last year of the Howard government, came down each year under the Rudd and Gillard Labor governments, and have flatlined since the Coalition was elected in 2013.

This graph by Nick Evershed, Guardian Australia’s data and interactive editor, sets it out clearly.

Read the story from The Guardian by Adam Morton - “Scott Morrison says the government is acting on emissions. Is it true?”

Wind farms 'ugly and detrimental' to health according to Tony Abbott

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ony Abbott has declared wind farms “ugly and detrimental” to our health.

The question must asked as to when the Prime Minister last took the time to look at anyone of our fire breathing coal-fired power plants or bothered to truly consider the world-wide damage to human health caused by the fuel they rely on.

Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Environment Editor, Tom Arup said, “Perhaps energised by one of his famous morning rides, Prime Minister Tony Abbott hit the radio on Thursday morning and emphatically declared wind farms were ugly, noisy and much worse.

“It was a revealing interview in which he laid out his personal views on the renewable energy technology and his desire to stop its rollout.

“In doing so he generated an angry response from renewable energy supporters and set off one of those social media backlashes you hear so much about, Arup wrote.

Read the story - “Prime Minister Tony Abbott blows hot air over wind farms”.

Governance critical to climate change response

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overnance at every level is critical to Australia’s response to climate change.

John Menadue - he's concerned
about lobbyists.

That governance, however, is being corrupted by the lobbyists, secret and otherwise, who have infiltrated the highest levels of our democracy, and rarely with intentions to boost the efforts of those advocating action to avoid climate change.

Former Secretary to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, John Menadue, has written in today’s Melbourne Age about the corruption of democracy in Australia by paid lobbyists.

His story - “How the rise of the lobbyist is corrupting Australia's democracy” – illustrates how lobbyists stand between climate advocates and a meaningful conversation with federal politicians.