Lies, disinformation, false facts, plain ole racism and discrimination, let alone petty politics tossed around with no truth analysis, seems entrenched in our society. Surely truth and fact checking should be enforced in any future government referendum or proposal put before the public.
Of course, some not very bright, biased, politically motivated and unethical people will always twist the truth to suit their agenda.
Social media has a lot to answer for . . . it was galling to hear people say they voted No “’cause I saw something on Tik Tok about it being a land grab…”
Why do some regional and rural people vote for The National party believing they have their interests at heart? The days of the “country party” are gone, big business beckons. There are a lot of farmers who understand the dire threat of Climate Change, who understand the value of saving forests, especially the old growth ones, regenerative farming, the need for tree cover to reduce temperatures, the protection of creeks and rivers to remain clear and clean, the value of water, of bushfire protection and maintenance, and slow burning. Jammed housing estates with no tree cover or gardens and black roofs that are plonked on rural land with no amenities is another anathema.
This is no longer greenie lefty thinking. Climate action is needed. Urgently.
It’s time a lot of politicians stopped running the country to suit themselves for financial gain, legally or not. Those inflated life pensions and perks are frequently not warranted, particularly if they’ve sat in the big house for a short time. Neither should former pollies be able to walk immediately into cushy jobs linked often to their portfolio and connections straight off the bat. Especially the lucrative fossil fuel companies.
So it was depressing yet again to read the same old bleating mantra from our very own Federal Member, Dr David Gillespie. (How much did those misleading lavish Vote No brochures he sent out to people in the electorate cost? Did taxpayers foot the bill?)
In an enlightening and intelligent article on how we’re running out of time to act on Climate Change in the esteemed The Saturday Paper (Oct.21) by respected Independent Member for the Federal Sydney seat of Warringah, Zali Steggall, she writes how “Human- induced global warming is a global emergency. The UN’s warnings should be a rallying call for world leaders to prioritise climate action and resilience-building measures to protect our communities from the impending threats. . . . with wind and solar energy already far cheaper, experts agree nuclear power makes no economic sense. . . . The protracted time frame for nuclear – which stretches to at least a decade – benefits the Coalition politically, enabling it to sow confusion about the direction of transition and delay the phasing out of coal and gas even longer, maintaining the profits of some of its biggest donors.”
She then quotes our Federal Member, Dr David Gillespie telling parliament that week, that –“Renewable energy is cheap if you can get it, but all the grid costs, all the land use costs, and all the environmental destruction just gets a leave pass. We need to stop this madness now, maintain our coal plants and consider clean zero-carbon nuclear energy which has none of these problems.”
Give us a break! Dr Gillespie.
It should now be obvious to everyone that the National Party has been completely captured by the fossil fuel industry and will do whatever it can to stop the transition to renewables.
At every turn, whether it be a halt to deforestation, protection of our koalas and native wildlife, or a transition to renewables, we get nothing but mindless opposition from the Nationals.
Dr Gillespie also recently had this to say:
“Existing power stations should be maintained until they can be replaced by new zero-emission, modern nuclear technology which can be plugged into the existing grid…”
What he failed to say was:
That such nuclear technology was still unproven and may never be viable
That it will certainly be much more costly than renewables
That at best it will be many years away, and
Where would such plants be built? (Forster, Old Bar, Harrington, Black Head?)
All in circumstances where urgent and immediate action is needed to address a climate emergency.
Perhaps Dr Gillespie should take the time to read the recent report from the Australian energy market operator which indicated that renewables supplied nearly 40% of electricity in the 2023 September quarter, and that total carbon emissions from the power sector, Australia’s biggest single source of emissions, were down 11% on a year ago.
If we followed the absurd urgings of Dr Gillespie then carbon emissions would not be falling, but probably increasing.
Fly over the Hunter Valley mines (or any mine) and weep. Give a wave as you pass to our former Deputy Prime Minister and former Leader of the National Party, Mark Vaile (educated at Taree High School) now Chairman of Whitehaven Coal.
However maintaining profits for The Nationals naturally favoured the No camp. Until our electorate of Lyne, gets a balanced representative we have to live with the “new Nats.” These days it seems the National Party is no longer the voice of the boys from the bush (apart from Leader of the Farmer’s Federation Fiona Simson) but a promotor and supporter of the fossil fuel industry.
Time to wake up folks. It’s going to be a helluva summer, and this is just the beginning. It’s real, it’s here. Climate Change cannot be stopped. If we throw everything we know at it, it may be controlled enough for us to adapt to its conditions. Ignore it at our peril.
DM