By MICHAEL SLOVANOS
WHEN the Labor government’s Chief Climate Clown Chris Bowen calls the passing of a Bill a “good day for the parliament and Australia” and the ABC reports the event with not one word of critical appraisal, you know something very bad is on the horizon.
That is the case with the Federal Government’s climate bill that passed parliament this month, enshrining its 43 per cent emissions reduction target into statute. The bill passed 86 votes to 50 in the House of Reps and the Senate with the help of the Greens (of course), the Taswegian twerp Jacqui Lambie and “independent” Senator David Pocock – another dedicated little ACT greenie.
According to the ABC, Pocock got the government to agree to several amendments “aimed at improving transparency and accountability”. But “transparency” in relation to this Act is not just about the government having to prove how it is “tackling climate change”, it targets business too.
Not only will businesses that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases a year be forced to document their actions to “fight climate change” by cutting emissions by between 3.5 and 6 per cent per year, they will have to show why they did or did not not leap at “climate opportunities” that arise, which means government literally telling business that they must invest in “green technology”.
Cashing in on this Act, as corporates tend to do, are international “business consultants” Ernst and Young, who, for a million or two or five, will send “multidisciplinary teams” to “help companies understand the risks and opportunities arising from climate change and sustainability issues”. Oh how caring and sharing of Ernst Young!
More accurately it would be called a brazen corporate scam run by one corporation to skim money off another corporation, and eventually the public through higher prices, because the government is allegedly enforcing some “green target” through some Bill they passed.
The reporting mechanism, it should be noted, was developed by the former Coalition government, and will cover businesses including coal mines, aluminium smelters, gas production, steel and manufacturing plants as well as airlines (now there’s an excuse to raise plane fares).
The immediate effect of this will mean higher costs of doing business, plus the penalization and restriction of day to day use of coal, oil, diesel, gas. Even worse, if a company is offered some alleged “fossil fuel alternative” but ignores it, they will have to explain why to big brother, aka the Climate Change Authority, yet another gaggle of overpaid fat cat Senior Executive Service bureaucrats.
Basically, this so-called government climate initiative says to Australian businesses: “Believe and follow our globalist ideology or else we will gently harass you and publicly shame and if necessary, fine you an enormous amount of money on a daily basis.”
But of course there is an “out clause” for the biggest of the big boy businesses who pour those handy bundles of cash into the Labor Party machine, not forgetting Team B on the Opposition benches. A “discussion paper” sets out “tailored conditions for emissions-intensive, trade-exposed industries to avoid them being put at competitive disadvantage and prevent emissions leaking overseas”.
It’s most convenient for BHP, Woodside, Rio Tinto, Fortescue and a handful of other big outfits who would be otherwise left for dead by Asian-based resource companies not laden down by the environmental regulations and wage demands of Australia.
As for the the government, they must report annually on their progress towards the goal, which no doubt a bunch of pampered young Canberra bureaucrats fresh out of uni will gleefully undertake for half the year.
According to the ABC, “the bill is largely symbolic” but “marks a breakthrough in the legislative gridlock of federal parliament, where attempts to legislate climate action have toppled several prime ministers.” Here’s another chance for Australian business to do the same again, to teach these ideological climate clowns to back off from their green agenda.
The ABC also casually informs us that the introduction of the Bill in May “followed the government formally updating Australia’s Nationally Determined Contribution with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, part of its obligations under the Paris Agreement.”
We should also mention that climate clown extraordinaire Adam Bandt backed the Climate Bill but complained that it did not ban all new oil and gas projects. The Gaia Cult commie told the ABC the Greens would now push to shut down future projects by amending the safeguard mechanism, which penalises “big polluting companies” that go over a set carbon emissions ceiling.
Bandt and his gaggle of Greens are a great asset for Labor, as they make Labor look like a commonsense party, which, as we know, is far from the truth.
According to the ABC, the Coalition determined it would oppose the bill, although some of its MPs and at least one senator are considering crossing the floor to support it, indicating how far left the so-called Liberal “centrists” have drifted.
Predictably, a major industry group fell into line with current woke corporate ideology with Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Andrew McKellar claiming the bill “would send a clear and welcome signal to the market in its transition to clean energy”.
“This is a missed opportunity for the Opposition. The announcement today demonstrates that the climate wars are over. This must act as a moment for unity of purpose,” the McKellar claimed.
Of course it’s to be expected from these corporate types who learn “correct thinking” from Rotary meetings, the Lodge, the mainstream media and the occasional Davos meetings they are so “privileged” to attend.