Pages

Friday, May 24, 2019

GWPF Newsletter: After Election Defeat, Labor Premier Now Calls For New Coal Mine








Labor Party Faces Existential Threat 

In this newsletter:

1) After Election Defeat, Labor Premier Now Calls For New Coal Mine
Financial Review, 22 May 2019 
 
2) Labor Faces Existential Threat As Greens Warn Party Over Climate Change Shift 
The Australian, 22 May 2019 


 
3) Australian Election Could Have Global Climate Impact
AFP, 21 May 2019   

4) Why Climate Change Alarm Is A Big Vote Loser
Paul Ormerod, City A.M., 22 May 2019
 
5) EU Elections: Influx Of Populist MEPs Likely To Water Down EU Climate Policy, Experts Warn
The Guardian, 22 May 2019  
 
6) Benny Peiser: Bringing Sound Science To The Climate Debate
The Heartland Institute, 21 May 2019 
 
7) Washington To Punish Builders Of Putin’s Gas Pipeline
The Times, 22 May 2019 


Full details:

1) After Election Defeat, Labor Premier Now Calls For New Coal Mine
Financial Review, 22 May 2019 

Labor’s wipeout in Queensland in the federal election has forced the state’s Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to clear the way for the approval of Adani’s controversial $2 billion Carmichael coal mine.


Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk at Hay Point coal terminal in Mackay on Wednesday.  

Amid fears her own second-term Labor government could face electoral oblivion by turning its back on blue-collar workers in Central and North Queensland, Ms Palaszczuk has ordered bureaucrats to provide a “definitive timeframe” on approvals for the project by Friday.

“We need some certainty and we need some time frames. Enough is enough,” Ms Palaszczuk said in Mackay on Wednesday.

“I think the federal election was definitely a wake-up call for everyone. I hear that message.”

The declaration by the Queensland Premier clears the way for Adani’s Carmichael project, which has been held up in the courts and approval process for the past 10 years, to be granted final approvals possibly within weeks.

Full story

2) Labor Faces Existential Threat As Greens Warn Party Over Climate Change Shift 
The Australian, 22 May 2019 

The Greens have warned Labor it will face a “brutal” campaign in key inner-city seats if it shifts to the Right on climate change and the Adani mine under a new leader in an effort to reconnect with blue-collar workers.



As Labor contemplates a return to the political centre and a more pro-jobs stance on coalmining after its electoral drubbing in Queensland, Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt flagged a fresh attack on the ALP’s Left flank, including Anthony Albanese’s seat of Grayndler.

“If Labor lurches to the Right under new leadership and back-pedals on climate and Adani, the Greens will mount a fierce inner-city push to represent voters abandoned on the Left,” Mr Bandt said.

Mr Albanese, Labor’s likely next leader, has flagged a push to reconnect with voters in regional Australia, earning the endorsement of senior NSW Right MP Joel Fitzgibbon, who said the party was punished for “fence-sitting” on issues like the Adani coalmine.

Mr Bandt, who received a nearly 6 per cent swing towards him on Saturday in his seat of Melbourne, said inner-city voters would punish Labor if it endorsed the Adani mine and backed away from its environmental pledges, including its vow to slash carbon emissions by 50 per cent....

Labor suffered a 3.76 per cent swing against it in Queensland as it sent mixed messages on the future of Adani under a Shorten government, with LNP MPs Michelle Landry, George Christensen and Ken O’Dowd returned in their mining seats with big swings to them on preferences.

Full story

3) Australian Election Could Have Global Climate Impact
AFP, 21 May 2019 

SYDNEY (AFP) - Brutal droughts, floods and wildfires were expected to make the environment a pivotal issue in Australia's election last Saturday.  Instead, victory for the climate change-sceptic Liberal party could have global implications.

  
Australia's Liberal-National coalition secured a surprise victory despite polls suggesting an opposition Labor Party win.

In coal-rich Queensland, voters swung hard to the government fearing a Labor government would curb mining projects and cost them jobs.

Concerns that Labor would block the creation of the massive Indian-backed Adani coal mine helped voters abandon the party in their droves.

The northeastern district of Herbert had been the most marginal seat at the last election, with only a 0.02 per cent difference between the main parties. This time the Liberals took 58 per cent of the vote.

That result - and others like it - could have ramifications far beyond Australia.

In the emissions stakes, Australia is a minnow compared to China or the United States, the world's top two greenhouse gas polluters.

But its role as the world's largest coal exporter gives the country outsized influence in the climate stakes.

Burning coal is the single largest source of mankind's carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and coal is more polluting than oil and gas.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for engaging in the debate!

Because this is a public forum, we will only publish comments that are respectful and do NOT contain links to other sites. We appreciate your cooperation.