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How is the government response (or lack off) affecting the debate around climate change in Australia? If I understand correctly, the current Australian governme

by pimmen 7y ago

How is the government response (or lack off) affecting the debate around climate change in Australia? If I understand correctly, the current Australian government does not believe in human caused climate change but still enjoys domestic support from voters. Is that changing? We had a similar, less serious event in Sweden last year during an extraordinary summer with a lot of forest fires, during an election year. The forest fires did not seem to change voters' mind much on the issue, unfortunately. Then again, we allocated a lot more resources than usual to fight the fires, even asking other countries for help.

shakna 7y ago
> How is the government response (or lack off) affecting the debate around climate change in Australia? Denial of resources thanks to denial of debate in the parliament. > If I understand correctly, the current Australian government does not believe in human caused climate change but still enjoys domestic support from voters. Is that changing? Not really. The governments strategy is currently to isolate and intimidate the concerned (scare campaigns, proposal of laws to outlaw "environmental protest terrorism"), whilst repeatedly telling the rest of the country: "we're fine", "we're doing our bit", "the problem doesn't exist" and "we can't survive without coal".
- NamTaf 7y ago
  To expand on the parent's latter, said PM told kids, during the school climate strike, to stay in school and stop worrying about climate change. This is among many other statements over the course of his tenure: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-warns-against-needless-anxiety-after-thunberg-climate-speech-20190925-p52uma.html https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-warns-again... https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/26/scott-morrison-tells-students-striking-over-climate-change-to-be-less-activist https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/26/scott-mo...
NamTaf 7y ago
I don't really have anything besdies my biased anecdata with which to go by, but I think those who vote for the current incumbant largely don't really register climate change as a point of concern for them. It doesn't directly affect them in any noticeable way in their day-to-day lives, so they just keep on prioritising other things that do. Climate change, for them, is simply not an election-deciding issue. Taxes, jobs & growth, investment tax laws potentially impacting their investment returns, etc. register on their radar far more. Also, both major parties here (in particular the conservatives) are beholden to the incredibly powerful mining lobby. The current PM held up a piece of coal in parliament as a prop and told the opposition not to be scared of it, for example. We did once actually have a functional carbon tax, but it got completely destroyed once the party that brought it in lost, in no small part due to the major offensive brought on by the mining lobby that secured their defeat. There's an incredible political incentive to minimise any links to climate change, and to not do anything that impacts the mining industry's profit margins. I don't really hold any hopes that we'll see structural change in either the political sphere. Additionally, it's my opinion that given Australia's incredible run of prosperity in so many ways, many (most?) voters here have become very insular, selfish and self-serving in their attitudes, and ignore externalised/delayed-impact issues such as climate change in a large way.

by pimmen 7y ago

shakna 7y ago

> How is the government response (or lack off) affecting the debate around climate change in Australia? Denial of resources thanks to denial of debate in the parliament. > If I understand correctly, the current Australian government does not believe in human caused climate change but still enjoys domestic support from voters. Is that changing? Not really. The governments strategy is currently to isolate and intimidate the concerned (scare campaigns, proposal of laws to outlaw "environmental protest terrorism"), whilst repeatedly telling the rest of the country: "we're fine", "we're doing our bit", "the problem doesn't exist" and "we can't survive without coal".

NamTaf 7y ago
To expand on the parent's latter, said PM told kids, during the school climate strike, to stay in school and stop worrying about climate change. This is among many other statements over the course of his tenure: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-warns-against-needless-anxiety-after-thunberg-climate-speech-20190925-p52uma.html https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/morrison-warns-again... https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/26/scott-morrison-tells-students-striking-over-climate-change-to-be-less-activist https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/26/scott-mo...

NamTaf 7y ago

I don't really have anything besdies my biased anecdata with which to go by, but I think those who vote for the current incumbant largely don't really register climate change as a point of concern for them. It doesn't directly affect them in any noticeable way in their day-to-day lives, so they just keep on prioritising other things that do. Climate change, for them, is simply not an election-deciding issue. Taxes, jobs & growth, investment tax laws potentially impacting their investment returns, etc. register on their radar far more. Also, both major parties here (in particular the conservatives) are beholden to the incredibly powerful mining lobby. The current PM held up a piece of coal in parliament as a prop and told the opposition not to be scared of it, for example. We did once actually have a functional carbon tax, but it got completely destroyed once the party that brought it in lost, in no small part due to the major offensive brought on by the mining lobby that secured their defeat. There's an incredible political incentive to minimise any links to climate change, and to not do anything that impacts the mining industry's profit margins. I don't really hold any hopes that we'll see structural change in either the political sphere. Additionally, it's my opinion that given Australia's incredible run of prosperity in so many ways, many (most?) voters here have become very insular, selfish and self-serving in their attitudes, and ignore externalised/delayed-impact issues such as climate change in a large way.