Questionable government decision draws ire on social media

Christopher Pyne.

A new Growth Centre established by the Australian Government will drive innovation, competitiveness and productivity across the oil, gas, coal and uranium sectors.

The Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Growth Centre, to be known as National Energy Resources Australia (NERA), will promote collaboration and innovation across the energy resources sector.

Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Christopher Pyne said the Australian Government was investing $15.4 million over four years in the growth centre.

Read the story by the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, Christopher Pyne - “Energy resources growth centre launched.”

(This Federal Government decision contradicts a world-wide move to renewable energy and has brought many comments on social-media ranging from stupid to confusing and mystifying and short-sighted. It is rather difficult to disagree with those observations and equally difficult to disprove them – Robert McLean).

Ongoing questioning is mystifying

By Robert McLean

The ongoing questioning of the legitimacy of climate change is mystifying.

Extreme weather events of the past year in Australia have pushed the bounds of normal, and exceeded them, and yet many continue to deny that anything unusual is happening.

First it was ten years of drought, devastating bushfires in Victoria, then it was massive floods in Queensland, floods in most corners of Victoria and now something similar is happening in Western Australia.

The south-west corner of the state after what had been described as “the most destructive storm in years” and now there is a warning out for even more wild weather over the next 48-hours.

In a story headed: “Storm warning adds to WA residents’misery” ABC readers were told: "We could experience widespread damaging winds, localised destructive winds, risk of multiple tornadoes, abnormally high tides, dangerous surf and coastal erosion, especially along the west coast."