Liberal Party Green
I didn't really want to write another post on the upcoming Australian federal election, but the desperate attempts by Liberal party members to express concern over climate change and other environmental issues is such transparent pandering that I feel it is necessary to bring these issues to the fore, just in case some poor delusional soul thinks the Coalition actually gives a toss about the environment.
Here's the only green that the Liberals and the Coalition are interested in...
Their true motives are readily apparent in these news items today.
Turnbull found the time to announce that the Government, already in caretaker mode, would bankroll to the tune of $10 million the investigation of an untried Russian technology that aims to trigger rainfall from the atmosphere, even when there are no clouds.
[...]
Mr Searle says all the literature he has seen on the technology shows it to be a bogus science.
"The one that is being touted at the moment sounds very similar to a group in the USA called the Cloudbusters, and they're supposed to ionise the atmosphere in order to make clouds out of blue skies and then to produce rain from those clouds," he said.
Electrification of the ionosphere to create clouds out of thin air. Certainly sounds a lot like the secret Australian rain device - no photographs allowed - that so excited the Minister and those who will share his six-month $10 million research funding.
The company receiving the funding is called the Australian Rain Corporation. The link provided gives absolutely no information, stating “Our Products and Services are available on personal request only.” Based on the little information I have seen, this looks incredibly shady, little more than wishful thinking. The secrecy involved and Turnbill's evasive answers only reinforce that notion. It looks like political payback and embezzlement to me, all performed under the pretense of acting on the environment. There's a video in the link; the story is a transcript of that video.
Incumbent Coalition candidate Dave Tollner...claim[s] nuclear power is the only way to effectively tackle global warming. He was scathing about any policy that would see Australia reduce its uranium mining.
"We should be praying that China and India take as much of our uranium as possible to reduce their reliance on coal power. The fact is, the only way that we are going to produce ongoing baseload power... is to export as much of our uranium to them as possible."
Australia gets rich while pretending to care about the environment. Wonder if he has any interests, 'friends' or 'donors' in the business?
Finally, a real howler
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says Australia will be pushing for a declaration on climate change at a meeting of Asian nations in Singapore.
Mr Downer says he wants the 16 countries at the meeting, including China and India, to sign an agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Uh, excuse me? You've been in government for nearly 12 years and have spent a large portion of that time even denying that climate change was even a reality, and now this. What happened to the wondrous 'diplomatic breakthrough' that was the APEC agreement, with its aspirational goals, that you were raving about just under three months ago? What's wrong with signing the international Kyoto Protocol? At least that will get us some respect (a tiny bit, but some) at the post-Kyoto negotiations in Bali next month.
Polls suggest the Coalition is likely to lose government on Saturday. But if Rudd and his Labour cronies think they can coast on this issue once elected, they are wrong. The genie is out of the bottle. As highlighted by the recent IPCC AR4 synthesis report, this is a pressing issue requiring real action, not mere lip service.
By all means, vote with your conscience. I'm not telling you who to vote for. But don't rationalize a vote for the Coalition with environmental issues. They're only in it for the money.
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