A tough week in the Anglosphere.
Not only are Donald Trump in the USA, and Boris Johnson in the UK both struggling to bluff and bluster their way out of their self-inflicted problems, but even the previously untouchable Canadian Justin Trudeau was embroiled in decades-old controversies over black-face pranks.
It was left to the Antipodes to hold the line, which New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern managed, with her usual panache. But Scott Morrison, for all his supposed insouciance, had worries that might prove more long-lasting than the transient disasters of his colleagues.
Noisy Australians? Not worth bothering about.
Last week the earth moved for him too – not a major tremor, certainly not a tsunami, but a rumbling that warned of a political tectonic shift that needed to be fixed promptly, before his remaining credibility got washed away by the rising waters those pesky climatologists keep harping about.
Some seven million people, 300,000 of them his own constituents, rallied in protest, demanding more action – real action – over climate change. This could be shrugged off as yet another distraction – obviously they were not quiet Australians, the only kind worth worrying about.
Greta Thunberg must be ‘stopped, destroyed, vaporised’!
But they had a focus: Greta Thunberg, whose excoriating speech at the United Nations gained world wide attention and threatened to turn a demonstration into a movement. Clearly she had to be stopped, destroyed, vaporised. So ScoMo and his hardened shock troops sprang into action.
There was no need to respond to her arguments – too complicated, too time-consuming, and too risky, especially because they were largely irrefutable. Terminating the messenger was much simpler, and in any case would be more fun – how good is smashing a teenager? So let’s get kicking.
Her crimes are clearly many and deep-rooted, but the worst of them is undeniable and irreparable: she is young.
Not actually a child, although we will call her that when it suits, but by definition too naïve, stupid and gullible to have delivered that speech – or her numerous previous speeches – without coaching and manipulation.
She must be the victim of a sinister conspiracy, a cult aimed at undermining western civilisation. So it is not really her fault, except that it is – she should go back home (or better, a home run not by her obviously abusive parents, but one that is politically sound), and learn the revealed truth about the eternal benefits of fossil fuel and the fallibility of the science to the contrary.
But perhaps she can’t – after all, she has Asperger’s Syndrome, so she is not entirely rational – barking mad, in fact. Her lunacy is attested by her habit of wearing a plait – what normal girl wears a plait these days? And she speaks kind of funny, not like us dinky-di Ockers.
But above all, she is angry, or as Morrison might call it, needlessly anxious – why would a healthy 16-year-old be anxious about the future of the planet, her hopes and dreams? We adults have it all under control and if we don’t, well, something will turn up. Get back to school, you little presumptuous brat.
How to exploit anxiety for your own agenda
But Morrison, resuming his daggy-dad persona, is at least marginally sympathetic. Kids should be kids, he insists, and teenagers should be teenagers he told a bemused audience at his own UN address – perhaps he meant they should spend more time on the traditional teenage pursuits of sex and drugs and rock’n’roll.
He respected the passion of the young: ‘my impulse is always to respond positively and to encourage them,’ he continued patronisingly. ‘To provide context, perspective and hope. We must respect and harness’ – yes it’s all about control – ‘the passion and aspirations of our younger generations rather than allow others to compound or worse, exploit their anxiety, for their own agendas.’
That is clearly his job, and his success on asylum seekers, Sudanese gangs, internet porn, unnamed security scares and all the rest of it shows that he is bloody good at it. And to prove it, he was happy to drag in his own young daughters, aged 12 and 10 respectively. They discussed climate change and fossil fuels – but he wanted them to keep everything in context and perspective, just as he had said.
He wanted them to be optimistic, looking forward to what he called a pristine environment (if he ever knew what the word pristine meant, he has long forgotten it) in an ideal future.
We can just see him as he gathers them on his lap, and their little eyes light up at the prospect of a landscape scarred by coalmines, with power plants belching clouds of smoke all around as they stroke and pat their father’s pet, the lump of anthracite he one cradled lovingly in parliament.
Not at all like that deluded dupe Greta Thunberg.
Hey, climate change – not everything is about you!
Was there anything more to say? Of course there was, the usual lies about how Australia was doing its bit, more than its bit, and in any case it wasn’t polluting very much at all, and places like China should do more, which was no doubt why we were flogging them as much coal as we could possibly manage.
And now for the big announcement: cardboard man has morphed into plastic man. ScoMo is going to clean up the world’s oceans. Well, not really, but he is going to try and find someone who will, as long as there’s a buck in it, which, in the current circumstances – that recycling plants around the world are either closing down or putting harsh restrictions on the waste they will accept – may be tricky. Which is no doubt why Morrison’s government has some kind of aspiration to phase out the use of plastic packaging in Australia, but is not putting a timetable on it.
The environment is not just climate change, he thundered, and as far as he is concerned, that’s certainly true – it is not about climate change at all. And Australia has absolutely nothing to apologise for. Or at least Australia is not going to apologise, and definitely not to Greta Thunberg and millions of enthusiastic followers. Not now, not ever.
Deny, obfuscate, distract, mislead – and if that does not work, terminate with extreme prejudice.
Your comment about Morrison’s lies cut to the state of things with this serial liar. There IS a way to get rid of Morrison I have come up with.TARGET THE MAN and his character or lack of it…actually the Liberals did this
with Shorten and their ‘Kill Bill’ campaign….ditto Abbott with debt, soft on refugees/terror and the prolonged personal attack on Gillard…they just grinded away, day after day, year after year of course
with the help of the Murdoch press, Jones and 2GBiased.
Now Morrison is a professional liar and Labor should attack his character around this constantly.Daily in fact. His lies over Labor debt, who taxes the most, climate, pollution emissions, the surplus, renewable energy-one can go on and on. Albo has foolishly banned the word ‘liar’ from Labor vocabulary. Wrong. When Morrison or ANY Liberal is lying they must be called out.
Morrison, like Abbott and Howard in 1996 had no policy platform before the election just:- ‘If Labor wins you will get BILL SHORTEN AS PM’. He hammered this relentlessly. Labor should do the same until ‘the mob’ and his Bible Belt crowd just see him for what he is-The Liar from The Shire. Sadly, the voting herd understand lies more than policies but this is the state of politics in this country. Obviously, policies do not work.The mob just don’t have the time to wade through the intricacies.
It should be an endless campaign on ScuMo’s constant stream of lies starting with “I never called Dastyari Shanghai Sam” when he did heaps of times….a small thing but it was played back to him many times AND HE DID NOT LIKE IT! His reaction to this small thing should be canned by Labor and used relentlessly.
The tally since 1993 for Labor is a devastating seven losses out of nine Federal elections. By the time of the next election in 2022, Labor will have been in Opposition for 23 of the last 29 years and the way Morrison is going I cannot see him losing the next election unless there is a recession or families cannot meet their mortgage commitments-and we don’t want that.
Mungo you’re right, but you’re being too kind.
Shouty Scumo is moron, a fool, a liar and a hypocrite. He seems incapable of rational and empathetic thought. The guy believes in Noahs Ark, but says he doesn’t “believe” in Climate Change. Puts his faith in the spotlight then shits on the poor and needy, hastens the exploitation and destruction of nature, and rejects all so-called Christian principles in government. He’s still an ad man selling indefensible rubbish. But hey, How Good is happy clapping? How Good is talking bulls4!t?
JUST MORE SCARE MONGERING!! ALARMIST
PROPAGANDA.. GLOBAL WARMING IS JUST A FRONT FOR WEALTH DISTRIBUTION.. MUNGO IF THE CONSERVATIVES WERE NOT IN GOVERNMENT
WHERE WOULD THAT LEAVE YOU ?? LETS FACE IT THEY KEEP YOU EMPLOYED.. IF BILL AND HIS TAX AND SPEND WERE IN GOVERNMENT YOU COULD NOT BRING YOURSELF TO HOLD LABOR TO ACCOUNT.. NOT A CHANCE ..!! by the way mungo you seem to talk the talk regarding Global warming
Are you driving a electric car ? Solar ? “DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO ” DO EXPRESS THIS WITH ALL DUE RESPECT..
A lot of shouting gibber from the Burrow, as usual.
Joachim..so what if the earths warming ..its only a difference of 1 degree since records were keep..no big deal ..! 500 scientists contacted the UN and explained that their is no climate emergency?
Shut them down of course ..!! It was warmer 2000 years ago …Why Joachim?? The national geographic in 1970 …predicted their will in a ice age
By 2020 ..uh wrong again ! And now all this Global Warming hysteria.. prediction after prediction .
Even our ego warriors, ultimate environmentalist
Our first people’s.. have they any concerns ?Joachim ?
Would know a thing or two about the weather patterns would they not ?? About 60.000 of knowledge…
Mungo,
Do you realise Scomo has a disease? He has a bad Coal & needs to take a Reality pill to fix it (They might even be on the PBS…)
I think he caught the Coal disease by the polluted piece of Coal he took to Parliament. (Perhaps the clear laquer wore off, allowing the Coal to infect him).
Personally, I have been infected by the Solar PV bug, but it seems easily controlled.
regards, Doug
Doug reality check !! Your solar ..made in china ????? All from base load power ..are you not hooked on ,COAL ? wont call you a hypocrite just yet
What, can you say , that the prosperity you enjoy
Is in no way connected to coal..?? GOOGLE WHAT IS COAL CONNECTED IN ONE’S LIVES DOUG ?
1000S OF ITEMS ..MAN WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE !! YOU HAVE A DISEASE…
Spot on, Mungo. ScoMo’s pedantic rave over Greta’s accomplished
presentation regarding Climate Change is just his disconnected
(read sick) dummy sucking. Isn’t it time he grew up? Spat it out? No.
He doesn’t know how. Using Asperger’s to try & topple the teenager
is more than monster-mugging; it’s outrageously banal. So much for
the ‘head-line manager’ of the great southern land. Cringe-worthy
stuff. All this fluff & spat out nonsense because the 16 year old is too
bright for him to slap down. Ah, dear PM – you’d best realise there
are many more young ones who’ll happily take you on. Your voters,
most over 61/2 decades plus are out there & know how to get a point
across as well. Ear chewing it’s called. On their behalf [because I do
qualify], I’m not impressed with your ‘misleading’ mess up governing
cloaked in lies, bluster & weakness. It’s time you & your party grew up.
Poor old ScoalNO, exposed as ‘Carbon Man’. No credible policy on Climate so roll out the ‘shoot the messenger’ defence against ‘Greta The Great’ to deflect from his / ScoalNO’s own failures. The World needs more ‘Greta The Great’ and zero ScoalNO.
Captain Planet Joachim!! You suggest O coal
Would that include YOU ? of course NOT !!
Why would i have to diminish my Lifestyle, prosperity, privilege’s …only the Government’s are accountable right ?
” DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO ” by the way Joachim
Did you study up on the ROMAN WARM PERIOD?
Burrow old son, you know nothing of my GREEN LIVING lifestyle, so I hardly think I’ll take lecturing from you. Burrow old son, the Science is in and all the denying from you will not change the facts. Get with the program Burrow old son, renewable energy is here to do the job, the era of thermal coal is all but done.
Kids, like the rest of the population, should be seen and not heard. Go to your room and be quiet.
Shhhh
How many of these LNP/2GB/IPA/Murdoch/Sky “News” after dark LNP flotsam and jetsam sheltered workshop propaganda units are capable of addressing the UN in a second Language like young Greta? None, they are one trick ponies attacking the messenger and not the problem.
Ray above is dead right,I said as much last week.
Labor the progressive parties and all of us, must go on full attack calling out the lies. We must take to the streets and call out the endless LNP/IPA/ Murdoch lies.
Scomo ,Boris , Trump .What hope have we got ,the west run by the three stooges .
Even sheep going up the race into the abattoir bleat and panic, so for sly old smirking Scumo to praise “quiet Australians” is sinister in the extreme.
Wake up people. “Quiet Australians” is just the way the climate-criminal slaughtermen want you to be.
Trump, Johnson and Morrison; their profession is in selling at any cost. Nothing to get annoyed about when you Re aware of the fact.
Barrow, you seem to ‘have-it-in for’ anyone with an opinion
somewhat different to your own. There are many
shades of red & blue. None of us are ‘always right’ as
many of us ‘are seen’ as wrong. Try the middle road,
the scales, for balance.
Stefanie far from the truth ..as i have always expressed i respect all opinions!! Including yours..
Your opinion or facts , may not be factual , and nor my own !! However will never shutdown open debate as is what is happening when you have a different view on climate change… need for the prompt that we live in a wonderful country with freedom of expression .. and association..
Stefanie not everyone is a believer in Global Warming and for good reason, the doomsday
Predictions are here and now AGAIN ! And as with past predictions, rise in the east, and set in the WEST
FOREVER..!!
Not everyone believes that the Earth is round or that the Earth revolves around the Sun and some people even think Elvis is still alive. But Burrow old son, none of that changes the facts. Facts are Facts, no such thing as your own facts. Global warming is real it NOT an opinion, only DENIAL from the likes of yourself.
Barrow is obviously an angry person going on the amount of capitals in his comments. Trying to shout down all opposition. I suggest he reads Julia bairds article in Saturday’s herald and use the link about middle age angry men’s help line(sic).
I am tied of vitriol from these people with their head in the sand completely ignoring all the evidence. I wonder if they shout at their doctor when diagnosed with an illness and say the evidence is wrong or fake news.
Barrow, in the past prediction – the end of the world –
was used & abused by religious groups with a ‘God’
as the figurehead. God’s got nothing to do with this
happening because humankind is responsible for
turning the globe into a cess-pool of loot managed
& run by big business & their buddies. False Gods,
false witnesses pretending to be upstanding men of
honour while pocketing parliamentary wages &
supporting risky businesses to wreck our farmers
& everything else. You know this Aussie land-
scape’s in one hell of a mess & getting worse by
the day. We have all been sold out – never mind
which party we support. I’ve said enough now.
Barrow, do you accept that climate scientists have a better idea about climate change than the average Joe on the street, and if so how do you reconcile the 97% consensus with your own views?
You are correct about many people being ‘do as I say not as I do’ but I think unfortunately that’s human nature and is exactly why we need government policy and legislation to force us to collectively clean our act up – relying on individuals to all just do the right thing will never work – we are all too greedy and selfish.
Like it steve jobs ?
It’s the government that is hooked on coal. We have solar panels but it doesn’t make a lick of difference while Scumo & Co. sponsors an industry that needs to end. There are dozens of countries with our standard of living or greater that have never relied on coal.
Your constant claim of addiction to coal is like claiming someone is addicted to poverty…..nobody chose it & many don’t have much choice
I’m just amazed at all the vitriol disguised as debate. Climate science would have to involve a dozen sciences, including chaos theory, so my opinion not understanding one of them would probably be irrelevant, and how many could really say otherwise? We’re being fostered out with half-baked politics. Try finding science on a climate change website, it ain’t there. And then try finding the sceptics who have been pushed down into the lower last 40 or 50 hits; they at least do try to talk science. Years back I read popular science. From what I could tell scepticism marked science from religion, for one thing. Now it’s treated as a sin. Greta is promoting her mother’s books and has not made one single scientific statement. At the age of 16, I at least understood basic Newtonion mechanics and calculus to a 2nd degree. So at least I know there is no change in movement without force or momentum without original force. And I presume there are too many variables in the climate equation for there to be one overall equation, a dozen equations that have to be interrelated. Like this piecemeal politics spouting from the rooftops. And most of what emits from the coal chimneys is water vapour, also a greenhouse gas. Don’t start me on the complucations.
But it’s no longer scepticism, is only denial. Denial for political reasons and corporate greed. There’s no debate, every alternative theory over the past 30 years has been examined, tested and discarded. Greta has not said anything new. I’ve never heard of any of books by Greta’s mum – this is first time I’ve seen her added to the conspiracy.
If you can’t find the thousands of peer-reviewed papers in scientific journals or even stories about them with brief summaries on the ABC and The Guardian news sites, then maybe you’re using google wrong?
Denial is stronger than being sceptical, yes, but a word used for political purposes. I don’t deny anything I don’t fully know to be wrong, so basically I don’t deny anything or very little. As for peer-reviewed articles I asked if more than a few could really say they understand. I know I don’t. The best of theories however are still open to question I would argue, or they would not be theories. Enough semantics.
Before there were deniers or sceptics there were idealogues. Who’s trying to vaporise Thunberg? Hyperbole, surely. Conspiracy? At the moment the plan hasn’t finished with plastic straws. Eventually it will be everything. A good conspiracy has two sides.
And what’s wrong with a little Internet porn? You can’t say boo without harassment raised. Even a robot has mechanical needs.
Science is not a democracy. Crichton said that. And even a mouse on a wheel uses energy. No perpetual motion.
Gees stop upsetting Barrow will you people, I fear the heat coming off his head will definitely push us past 2 degrees of warning!
Na Mick !! Iam waiting patiently for the national geographic prediction from 1970 that by the year
2019 we will be in a ice age..plenty of ice
For the scotch…mick !! Waiting for this ice age is becoming expensive, so many trips to the servo ..
Called the national geographic and asked how much longer are expected to wait for the ice age
They apologised and said we meant Global warming..!! And the prediction list is endless
With no success for these alarmists…Google it mick …dont get to upset…!!
And I’m waiting on the ‘second coming’ to arrive
& fix up earth’s problems. I had a dream that
the Godhead arm wrestled Dutton & Morrison
at the same time & won while singing ‘Get Off
My Cloud’. God’s an old rocker woman from
way back.
Mangosteen, one of the headlines in this piece says that Greta Thunberg must be stopped, destroyed and vaporised and these words are in quotation marks, as though someone has said this. As far as I can tell it is only you saying this, a counterpoint. Questionable journalism at best, or poor editing, or downright deceit.