September212009
I met with Joe Hockey today
to talk to him about climate change, a carbon constrained economy and a more broadly ‘green’ economy.
I was pleased to learn he owned a farm in FNQ, which would be a great lesson in the economy in the field.
When asked about Copenhagen and playing a leadership role in the climate debate, he was purely concerned about whether a global agreement was reached and sealed before taking any action. While the economics of his argument made sense, they did not take into account the cost of failure in the negotiation for a global compact to address climate change. My personal take is that we’re in a crisis right now and everyone must do everything we can to avert the worst of the damage now. There is no time for obstinacy - everyone is watching the other with their hands at their holsters and an open hand would do wonders is such a situation.
He described his picture of a low carbon economy: gas, carbon capture and storage and uranium, the last of which he says is the inevidable endgame for Australia’s energy generation (all extraction technologies, no mention of renewables).
He also said (if I understood him correctly) that the dairy farmers’ processing plant near his farm would be shut down if an ETS is introduced (though he supports an ETS). It reminded me of the warnings the economy would be wrecked if we cut tariffs/change our tax structure/float the dollar/increase regulate/raise interest rates/etc.
Joe expressed the opinion that Australians were ‘not fair dinkum’ when it came to realising the costs of emissions reduction, meaning we say we want action but when it comes we’re actually not willing to accept it. Sadly, I do agree with this for the most part.
He made the interesting point that the push for a change to a low carbon economy has to come from the population, but there has been no community leader that has taken up the challenge to build this pressure. The example he gave of such a figure was Ian Kiernan (as it happens, my old boss) for the work he did with Clean Up Australia. I would argue that Tim Flannery has done an excellent job in this regard. Avoiding climate change and cleaning up your local beach are not really of similar complexity. You are not likely to get only one person to play this role because the actions required are many, wildly varied and constant.
Anyway, though I was not inspired when I left, I did enjoy the visit. It’s a great thing that anyone can book time to speak to their local member, no matter who they are.
For anyone wanting to have an influence on commonwealth policy, I highly recommend visiting your local MP. Find out what they think and let them know your own thoughts. They’re there to represent you.
