Joyce prefers large hats and metaphors over policy

Joyce enjoys hats and metaphors instead of good policy
 
David Speers is a fine journalist and interviewer but on Sunday’s Insiders he astonishingly let Barnaby Joyce completely off the hook as the interview veered across the path of climate change.
 
Joyce in his extraordinarily large hat was contemplating lunch at a Walcha Rd café in his New England electorate.  He informed us that whether he finally choose to adorn the café with his presence depended on the content of the menu and the indicative price for each offering.  He informed “Speerzy” that he understood the climate change debate through this metaphor.  Apparently, he will consider the possibility of zero emissions by or before 2050 if someone tells him how it is to be done and what it will cost.
 
What ‘Speerzy’ neglected to do what to remind the ruddy faced and bucolic deputy Prime Minister that he is the second most powerful politician in the country.  He is paid handsomely by the taxpayer to decide what is on the menu and to deploy the skills of the public service at his disposal to work out the price. 
 
The reality is that a price can only be considered when a proposal is presented.   In my hometown, there was much debate about a new bridge over the Clyde River.  In the end, urgent necessity drove the decision. Only then were alternative possibilities presented and a price determined.
 
The government needs to make a clear and unambiguous decision that we have no choice, we must join the rest of the world. Together we must reach carbon zero as soon as possible and no later than 2050, the price of not doing so is far too high.   Having made that decision, the government should employ the expertise of science and the public service to determine the most efficient and cost-effective manner of achieving the goal.  It is not that hard.  May I be bold enough to suggest some of the essential items that must appear on the ‘menu’.
 

1. A clear strategy and costing of a transitioned  work force currently deployed in the fossil fuel industry to a more sustainable and fulfilling employment into the future. It should not be beyond the wit of politicians to engage in this task.  Clearly there are politicians like Matt Canavan and Joyce himself who have a vested interest in fossil fuel longevity who will oppose such a task, but let there be no mistake, they are undermining the future of good men and women who deserve much better from them.

 

1. Scams need to be revealed for what they are, technological frauds in the name of ‘keeping an open mind’. Carbon sequestration as part of energy generation from fossil fuels is in this category.  Recent findings from the Chevron project off the West Australian coast prove this point, if proof were required.  Too much public money has already been invested in this fraud, which, even if it worked, would make the energy generated economically uncompetitive.  This scam should not be confused with large scale agricultural sequestration of carbon which could and should enjoy the dual benefit of higher agricultural productivity.  It should also provide the agricultural sector with a much needed means of offsetting other costs.  The challenge, which should not be too difficult, will be verifying the carbon sequestered as the strategy is rolled out.

 

1. Hydrogen, the most common and abundant element in the universe, is the obvious source of energy to drive the re-industrialisation of Australia.  Its extraction as an energy source requires the investment of other energy on a scale which would undo its environmental benefit. That is why the energy used in its refinement as a usable resource must be renewable – hence ‘green hydrogen’. Barnaby should be using his famous megaphone to stir investment in this important technology which will go a long way to re-industrialise Australia and make us far less dependent on what we dig up or cut down.  Instead of exporting iron ore we could be exporting steel.  Hydrogen could also become a vast source of export income.

 

1. Electricity production and use must be completely democratised, thus enabling households and neighbourhoods to be self-sufficient.   To do this pressure must exerted to ensure the grid becomes fit for purpose in the 21st century.  It was designed for 20th century dependency on production from large scale fossil fuel generates that are now past their use by date.

 

1. We do not produce motor vehicles in Australia.  Soon electric cars are going to dominate the international vehicle market.  We must encourage the uptake of this technology and invest in a network of charging stations.  At  the same time incentives should b given to the less wealthy to install vehicle charging capacity at home

 

1. The cost of international trading partners acting while we refuse to do so needs to be calculated and publicised.

 

1. The cost to Australian production, infrastructure, health, loss of habitat, annual days over 40 degrees Celsius, property and infrastructure becoming uninsurable, increased frequency of severe weather events must be made.  This calculation should be made on the assumption of 1.5, 2.0 and 3.0 degree rise in temperature above pre-industrial levels.  These calculations should also be made regionally, so for example a comparison should be made between the expected income from mining the Galilee basin (supposing Adani or Palmer would be prevented from minimising their obligations) compared with the loss of income caused by the loss of the Great Barrier Reef.

 
The cost of nmot acting takes us into negative territory with accelerating speed.  The benefit of acting  is so obvious at a multitude of levels that it must be assumed those who oppose action are doing so out of political or personal self-interest
 
Mr Joyce, you are not paid to ask others to work out the safest and best future for Australia, you are paid to do it yourself.  If you do not know the answer to the question of what it would cost for Australia to reach carbon zero compared with the cost of not doing so, you are abdicating your responsibility.  Move out of the way and let those who are prepared to take this responsibility to do so.