Just a short ranty post while watching q and a. They had bill shorten on and honestly as much as I have come to despise labour and Kevin rudd I really respect bill after seeing him a few times now on qanda. He really strives to answer the questions put to him and answers in a way that says he believes in what he is doing and less about scoring political points. Tony Abbott was on and really seemed that every statement he made contained a cheap shot at current government. Bill never seemed to rise to the bait and gave answers not excuses or political jargon.
But really interesting discussion at the end about how Kevin rudd was voted in on his mandate on climate change. Yet after Kyoto, very little leadership. One of the other panel members said that after the world found out the ozone was dying, we all stopped using CFC's very quickly! The ozone layer is now actually healing. But the apathy of Australian toward climate change means no one is willing to give up their lifestyle to address climate change.
The guy then mentioned that when Sydney was running out of water, the government set legislation overnight that people could only use water on alternate days. Apparently there was outcry it would destroy their lifestyles, but it turns out everyone adjusted. In fact when dams recovered and they wanted to remove restrictions there was another huge outcry - to keep the legislation in place!
So then they asked, where climate change is such an important issue, indeed it is Kevin Rudd's mandate, why no legislation? Bill shorten said they don't want to legislate what people do to tackle this issue, and instead working towards thing like the ETS.
So this is after I read this earlier:
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/venues-brand-2am-lockout-a-return-to-joh-era-20091027-hino.html
Another stupid piece of Legislation put forward to restrict people's lifestyle! The argument is to reduce violence, but honestly where are the stats and how many people are affected by this? Another annoying thing where the bulk of voting public aren't out at all hours and traditionally dislike those that do (the media does not paint a good picture) so they score points by clamping down on their lifestyles.
But climate change? Where scientists all tell us how much this will put out actual scores of people both in the immediate future as well as future generations. Oh no can't legislate a change there. Might be more effective in keeping people safe and healthy than restricting young people who want to go out, but you might upset too many voters.
Grrrrrr...
-- Posted from my iPhone
2 comments:
Hi Nate,
I could go forever about climate change, but i have my own blog for that :) So just quickly, there seem to be two things peculiar to the climate change issue.
1. Span. Water was an issue of dams running out within a year or two. Climate change is (partially falsely) viewed as a longer term problem. Like a student with an assignment, they (gov't) generally take all the time they have.
2. People. Water use affects the same people that do the damage (both in time and geography). Climate change doesn't get as much action because it's (a) other people, and (b) not immediate.
This is why climate change is referred to as the great moral challenge. Any community can band together when they collectively face disaster. But if the 'reward' is distributed more widely, then that requires actual altruism (or to love one's neighbour as oneself)
Hi again,
The argument for ETS etc is that a market is the best way to allocate the pre-determined amount of carbon amongst the citizens. "Command and Control" measures you speak of (like watering days) are often simpler policies, but usually aren't as efficient. An extreme example would be for Qld to have electricity on even numbered days, and NSW on odd numbers :) It would achieve the reductions, but with much pain.
By contrast, establishing a price on carbon allows individuals to determine whether the reductions can most easily (/cheaply) be made.
Agree on Bill too - i've seen him give a speech about disability (one of his areas) and was quite impressed.
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