Election 2016: Failing on climate change – a national disgrace

Michael Slezac reports in The Guardian (27.6.16) aht peaking at the same time as Turnbull addressed the party faithful at the Coalition’s campaign launch, former leader John Hewson told protesters the Coalition’s lack of action on climate change was a “national disgrace”.

‘“I think climate change should be the dominant issue of this campaign – it should have been for quite some time,” said Hewson, who was once the local member for the seat of Wentworth, which includes Double Bay.

‘He said “short-term politicking” from both sides left targets that were inadequate and policies that were not going to meet those targets. “The one thing that hasn’t failed is people like yourselves,” he said. “The community is way ahead of the political leaders and the business leaders on this issue.”’

1988: How Margaret Thatcher tried to lead the way on climate change

Jon Dee (ABC 9.4.16) writes that long before before Al Gore’s ‘An Inconvenient Truth’, Margaret Thatcher (Tony Abbott’s heroine) called for urgent action on climate change.

2006: Al Gore’s ‘An inconvenient truth’

Future generations may well have occasion to ask themselves, “What were our parents thinking? Why didn’t they wake up when they had a chance?”

Al Gore answers the questions:

Do we have to change?

Can we change?

Will we change?

2014: Obama’s G20 climate change speech in Brisbane

Obama addressed students at the University of Queensland on the need for urgent action on climate change.

2015: The Pope’s Encyclical Letter on climate change

On 18 June 2015 Pope Francis released an Encyclical Letter on climate change. The first chapter, ‘What is happening to our common home?’ the Pope wrote:

‘It is my hope that this Encyclical Letter, which is now added to the body of the Church’s social teaching, can help us to acknowledge the appeal, immensity and urgency of the challenge we face. I will begin by briefly reviewing several aspects of the present ecological crisis, with the aim of drawing on the results of the best scientific research available today, letting them touch us deeply and provide a concrete foundation for the ethical and spiritual itinerary that follows.’

2016: David Attenborough and the Great Barrier Reef

The catastrophic bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef is a potent sign of the realities of climate change. 

2016: former Liberal Leader John Hewson

John Hewson joined a protest in Malcolm Turnbull’s electorate of Wentworth, while Turnbull was launching his campaign, accusing both major parties for not having climate policy central to their platforms – calling it a national disgrace.

2016: An appeal from 2500 world scientists to Malcolm Turnbull

2016 has been a catastrophic year for coral reefs. Reef scientists appeal to Turnbull to do more to protect the Great Barrier Reef.

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