By using a whole lot of words to avoid taking action, the government is slyly putting off doing anything meaningful about the climate emergency.
When it comes to global warming, the Australian media has, once again, fallen into the role of Charlie Brown to Scott Morrison’s Lucy at football practice. You know the popular gag: “Trust me,” says Lucy, before pulling the ball away at the last moment.
This time, Morrison’s Lucy schtick came with his tippy-toes sideways shuffle of the Paris-mandated zero net emissions goal from “some time this century” to “preferably by 2050” — a U-turn of historic proportions apparently, right up until all meaning was pulled away in the face of backbench resistance.
Within a week, the moment was lost as the government leapt at the opportunity to huff over national sovereignty in response to threats of carbon tariffs on Australian exports. (Australia is “dead against” them, according to Energy Minister Angus Taylor, as though that matters to the world. Well done, Angus.)
Go deeper on the issues that matter.
Register your email address to get FREE access on a 21-day trial.
