The Garnaut Report

Climate change is one of the single most important issues confronting the globe, and as Garnaut correctly noted that Australia is one of the countries to face significant ramifications from climate change. While Garnaut’s draft report has many important recommendations, the report fails to include all sectors and allows for enough wiggle room for Australia’s governments to maneuver around. Although I am largely skeptical about the introduction of a carbon trading scheme to help reduce emissions, it would seem that there is at least a beginning point.

Yet as soon as Garnaut had finished addressing the National Press Club, the country’s largest employer groups cried foul saying that their members would pass on any extra costs related to the trading scheme to consumers. It is amazing how quickly business interests in this country use consumers as cannon fodder for their lobbying efforts of governments. Rather than seeing a golden opportunity to do something about their own emissions, they see the draft report as something to ‘kill off’.

Penny Wong’s response to the draft report was quite telling as she committed to nothing, and again restated Labor’s position of taking the recommendations into consideration when it developed its policy position. Strange that they haven’t finished their policy when they were making all kinds of pledges to Australian voters about protecting the environment and tackling climate change (the promises the ALP made in the 2007 federal election campaign are in the tab at the top of this page).

One of things that I find highly irritating is that the state governments continue their parochial squabbling and the expense of the environment. The fact that the ALP and Liberals are only focussed on election cycles should be a major worry for any thinking voter. Without future thinking and forward looking policies, Australia is destined to suffer unimaginable consequences from climate change.

At a federal level both the ALP and Coalition are playing populist politics over the apparent petrol price crisis. There is no leadership from either party on the difficult decisions necessary to tackle climate change. Indeed the Coalition is already trying to give the Garnaut report the heave-ho by saying a trading scheme should be delayed. They don’t mention for how long it should be delayed and they certainly don’t make any suggestions about alternative means of addressing climate change.

It is greatly concerning that as each year passes all of Australia’s governments continue to ignore climate change and the urgency it presents.