Stop all new coal mining operation, INCLUDING ADANI

Stop all new fossil fuel power stations

Commit to a price on carbon

Listen to the real climate scientists, the near unanimous majority of them, not the 2 funny ones who are paid for by the fossil fuel industries, nor listen to Alan Jones... 

Any Royal Commission into the fires would be a waste of time before meeting these criteria.

And by the way "these" people are the same people as the rest of the people, except some of them have been hurt, some of them do not evangelicalise and some of them do not trust you, Scomo...

It’s too early to say whether the prime minister, Scott Morrison, is speaking with a forked tongue when he says the government will “evolve” its climate change policy.

What appeared on Sunday to be a shift in rhetoric on the government’s emission reduction targets may be meaningful – or it may yet prove to be deliberately duplicitous.

Morrison is clearly under pressure on the government’s unambitious climate change policy, an issue that may have remained conceptual for some if not for the horror bushfire crisis that has laid bare the consequences of a warmer planet.

 Scott Morrison can't afford to waste the bushfire crisis when Australia urgently needs its own green new dealMalcolm Turnbull  Read more

For months, the prime minister has refused to yield on calls for more ambitious action, saying the government was doing enough and would “meet and beat” its Paris target of reducing emissions by 26% to 28% of 2005 levels by 2030.

But as the cries for action have become louder – including from a group of former fire chiefs who have clearly linked the fire crisis to the effects of climate change in Australia – Morrison is detecting the whiff of backlash.

Despite his ill-judged family holiday to Hawaii, and what was arguably a tardy national response to the fires, Morrison is not politically naive.

He knows that the political pressure over climate change is only becoming more intense, and will be most profoundly felt in inner-city seats held by moderate Liberals, particularly in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Like a verbal Rorschach test, Morrison’s media appearances on Sunday were open to interpretation, but designed to give the government wriggle room.

A conservative Queenslander who works in a coal seat? Morrison wants you to hear the message that he won’t be changing course.

But a moderate Liberal in Victoria? Morrison’s message for you is he plans to “go further” on emissions reduction.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/12/scott-morrison-lo...

Australia must aim for zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible otherwise bushfire conditions will deteriorate significantly, economist Ross Garnaut says.

Professor Garnaut undertook a review for the then-Labor government in 2008, which concluded climate change would make bushfires worse in Australia by 2020.

"Things will keep getting more challenging, hotter conditions will be worse for bushfires," he told ABC radio on Monday.

"That will continue to be the case until the world has zero net emissions. It's in Australia's national interest that we're part of the global effort to get to zero net emissions as soon as possible."

Australia has pledged to cut emissions by 26 to 28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030 under the Paris Agreement.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has come under pressure for his handling of the bushfire crisis as well as his government's attitude towards the link between climate change and carbon emissions.

Mr Morrison says he accepts climate change is driving longer, hotter and drier summer seasons and the government's emissions targets need to "evolve".

But he says this won't include introducing a carbon price.

Prof Garnaut says the government could ensure the coal and natural gas industries buy carbon credits to offset their future emissions, which continue to grow.

Director of the Australian National University's Climate Change Institute Mark Howden says putting a price on carbon would be the most effective and efficient way of reducing emissions.

Other options are "second-level policies which are less efficient, cost more, deliver fewer benefits", he told ABC news.

Dr Howden, who is also a vice chair of the UN's climate policy advisory group, said the government could do more to encourage the uptake of electric vehicles and to ensure energy efficiency in agriculture.

Chief councillor of the Climate Council Tim Flannery says Australia must start taking action to ensure damage doesn't get worse.

Prof Flannery was the chief commissioner of the Climate Commission set up by the Gillard Labor government in 2011. But it was dumped two years later by the Abbott government.

"As climate commissioner my first report in 2011 was titled: The Critical Decade," he told AAP.

"The argument was that if we didn't start making deep cuts through this decade, then we'd face some very nasty consequences. Sadly that's proved to be the case, here at the end of that critical decade."

Natural Disaster Minister David Littleproud has continued to stand by the government's plan to use carryover credits towards achieving the Paris target.

Australia is the only country which plans to use the accounting technique.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese says Australia needs to plan for a transition away from fossil fuels in order to drive down emissions.''

Read more:

https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/6576964/garnaut-urges-zero-emis...

Please note that I have been VERY generous with the Excess emission reductions in the graph above. These reduction excesses were mostly made under LABOR. Very little were made under the Libs and most of those were due to the momentum from Labor's policies. The Liberals (CONservatives) have made no effort to reduce emissions. NONE. This was obvious at the last conference on global warming in Madrid, COP 25, ... Australia was the reluctant child...

Scott Morrison needs to take action on global heating or he will become a “climate change casualty”, a former Victorian Labor premier, Steve Bracks, said.

Bracks, who is chair of the $55bn industry superannuation fund Cbus, said the fires that have raged Australia have galvanised community support for action and he called on the Morrison government to put a price on carbon.

“It’s really in a sad position in Australia where we’re seeing effectively corporate Australia, industries, the financial sector and business who are leading on climate change and the government’s not,” he told Guardian Australia.

The fires, which have burned more than 10m hectares, killed 28 people and covered Sydney and Melbourne with hazardous smoke, “made a world of difference” to public feeling about global heating.

“People’s experiences are so important so I think there is a great appetite now for effective climate action in Australia, and even the prime minister I think is sort of starting to recognise that and move in that direction, and that’s a good thing,” he said.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/15/scott-morrison-in-da...

Australia’s science minister wants the debate over the realities of climate change to end, as various experts prepare to meet in Canberra.

Karen Andrews will on Wednesday meet with representatives from the CSIRO, the Academy of Science and bushfire researchers to discuss ways to address bushfires through science and technology.

She admits it’s a “fair” question as to why it’s the first time she’s sat down with all of the agencies, given how long bushfire warnings have been in place.

Ms Andrews says Wednesday’s roundtable will be the first of many, and she’s not prepared to continue debating whether climate change is real or not.

“Every second that we spend talking about whether the climate is changing, is a second we are not spending on looking at adaptation, mitigation strategies,” she told ABC radio.

“It really is time for everyone to move on and to look at what we’re going to do.”

Her view puts her at odds with outspoken Coalition backbencher and former furniture salesman Craig Kelly, who denies climate change.

Environmental experts are meeting in Canberra to sit down with minister Sussan Ley, with protecting koalas and other species top of the agenda.

Graphic footage of koalas caught up in blazes across the country has been aired around the world, with millions of dollars pledged to help protect them.

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2020/01/15/science-minister-tir...

Bridget McKenzie has refused to rule out using publicly funded grants programs to target marginal electorates as she defends her decision to favour Coalition-held and target marginal seats for $100m of sports grants.

The deputy Nationals leader and former sports minister has also suggested that Coalition seats could gain more again in future funding rounds, after a spike in applications from those seats.

McKenzie made the comments on Thursday while defending her handling of the community sport infrastructure grant program after the auditor general, Grant Hehir, found she had ignored the merit-based assessment undertaken by Sports Australia for almost half the successful projects.

The Australian National Audit Office found the successful applications were “not those that had been assessed as the most meritorious in terms of the published program guidelines”.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/16/bridget-mckenzie-...

Read from top.

A more ethical minister would have resigned. Remember Kelly and the white board...

Read also:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2020/01/16/bridget-mckenzie-han...

The Labor MP Graham Perrett has complained about the politicisation of the Coalition’s controversial $100m community sport infrastructure grant program after he was excluded from the announcement of a local grant he’d lobbied for while his Liberal opponent was invited for a photo opportunity.

The member for Moreton told Guardian Australia he had helped local soccer club the Sunnybank Saints win $135,000 for a clubhouse upgrade by writing a letter of support, only to discover the application was successful when the club was contacted for a photo opportunity with his opponent, the councillor Angela Owen.

Perrett’s is just one complaint from Labor MPs about the $100m program overseen by the then sports minister Bridget McKenzie that is the subject of a scathing audit office report which found funding decisions were skewed in favour of marginal and target seats.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/17/labor-mp-who-lobb...

Bridget McKenzie should resign as a minister and as an MP. Go go go... If evangelical Scott Morrison has any Christian ethics left in his trousers, he should ask her to go. But has he any ethics? Was he the one dude who asked Bridget McKenzie to porkbarrel?

...

Team sport as we generally know it is not for everyone, for some it is nothing at all or worse, but there are others for whom it has been very important indeed, kids who might not otherwise have been touched by a sense of beneficial community.

Senator McKenzie spat on those people. 

She decided they weren’t important, that buying a few votes was more important than honourably discharging her elected duty.

Nothing displays a politician’s treason – putting personal interests before the nation’s best interests – than a willingness to raid the public purse for partisan gain. 

Then there are those volunteers who carefully read the grants’ guidelines, who jumped through the hoops and spent the hours, the many hours working up a deserving application. There would have been meetings – meetings! – to agree on what was needed and what might be sought. 

The volunteers are generally true believers in their community and sport, in the fellowship and help it provides, in that quaint old idea of “society”. 

Senator McKenzie and her hacks toyed with those good people, played with their hopes and betrayed them. 

The game was rigged. The ref was corrupt. They never had a chance.

Read more:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/national/2020/01/16/bridget-mckenzie-sports-grants/

Read from top.

Scott Morrison has said the federal government will move to “clarify” and address the “legal issues” raised by the auditor general in a scathing report which found Bridget McKenzie may have lacked power to hand out $100m in sports grants targeted at marginal seats.

On Monday Morrison weighed in, backing the former sports minister over her handling of the community sport infrastructure grant program but avoided questions about whether his office had any role in using grants to target marginal seats.

Morrison told ABC’s AM that the “auditor general found there were no ineligible projects that were funded and the rules were followed”.

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/20/scott-morrison-ba...

Read from top.

Our PM, Scott Morrison, formerly the Ubu king of advertising spin, has become the despot of fudge, the queen of deception (did I see his man-boobs?) and the emperor of bullshit, of which we are the passive subjects...

manboobs

Whatsernamezie should be sacked...