David Lowe
Last week, Acting PM Michael McCormack managed the tricky feat of making the absent Scott Morrison look good, at least by comparison. Perhaps that’s now the Nationals’ role in the Canberra circus?
During a discussion in parliament about the mouse plague, Mr McCormack said that if people have a problem with extermination methods the mice should be ‘rehomed’ into inner city apartments ‘so they can nibble away at their food… and scratch their children at night.’
Although Australia is not a member of the G7, Scott Morrison flew to the UK on Shark One with a large entourage to be an observer at the Cornwall conference. He then went on to London to pick up some hairstyling tips and sign a trade deal with Boris Johnson.
Another foreign leader with G7 observer status, India’s Narendra Modi, attended via Zoom, but this wasn’t good enough for Mr Morrison, who needed stronger material for his ongoing self-marketing campaign in the face of the disastrous vaccination rollout, fresh cruelties for the Murugappan family and a devastating new Four Corners report about his links to QAnon.
This plan backfired somewhat as images emerged of Morrison standing alone and staring at his mobile phone as world leaders spoke to each other, then posing for selfies with the staff of a Cornwall pub, nobody wearing masks, as Australians with overseas relatives continue to be unable, in most cases, to visit them.
Morrison’s isolation on the world stage over global warming was not helped by his coal and gas-loving Resources Minister Keith Pitt (another National) announcing on radio last week that ‘we have not committed to net zero by 2050.’
Talking about coal, Acting PM McCormack said the mineral ‘pays for a lot of hospitals. It pays for a lot of schools. It pays for a lot of barista machines that produce the coffee inner city types sit around and drink and talk about the death of coal.’
All this comes at a very bad time for coal power domestically, with 477,000 customers in Queensland recently losing power after a catastrophic explosion in the Callide Power Station, and the Victorian government declaring a state energy emergency after flooding of the Yallourn power station and coal mine.
In response to Greens leader Adam Bandt’s suggestion that Australia’s support for fossil fuels was increasingly out of step with global trends, and threatening the future of Australian agriculture, Mr McCormack said, ‘You talk of global warming; hell will freeze over before I start listening to the Greens.’
He went on to call Adam Bandt an ‘absolute traitor’. Mr Bandt responded by saying, ‘The real treachery is loving coal more than your country.’
In a week when the LNP’s hypocrisy on climate seemed ripe for attack, the ALP instead sent out federal resources spokesperson Madeleine King to further the transition fuel myth by saying, ‘We believe the gas industry is part of the solution.’ She said ‘Labor supports the resources sector and the jobs it creates.’ Never mind if those jobs threaten many other jobs, and the future of life on Earth.
There was more having it both ways from Labor as MP Chris Bowen appeared in the House of Representatives with a solar panel to belatedly parody Scott Morrison’s ‘don’t be afraid of coal’ stunt. But this appeared to be purely for the sake of a short-lived meme, and was attached to no new policy announcements. There were a flurry of similar social media moments from the ALP about threats to Medicare, super, and aged care.
Over in the Senate, Larissa Waters’ proposal for an inquiry into Christian Porter was torpedoed by a bunch of ageing white men who were joined by Pauline Hanson and Jacqui Lambie, who said that while she supported the idea of an inquiry, this was not the way to get to the truth. Meanwhile Christian Porter continues to sit in the federal parliament with dark shadows hanging over him, and no apparent mechanism for the truth to emerge.
Beyond parliament, the High Court struck down former senator David Leyonhjelm’s final leave to appeal punishment for earlier sexist attacks on Sarah Hanson-Young. The SA senator said, ‘This process has been difficult and I am relieved it’s finally over. We can stand up to badly behaved men and we can win.’
Apparently missing this memo, Barnaby Joyce decided this week to launch an attack on the Nationals leadership, claiming his previous scandals and skulduggery had been purged by three lonely years in the backbench wilderness. After a spill motion was moved by fellow coal enthusiast Matt Canavan, the Beetroot Baron swept in for the kill, and became the new Deputy Prime Minister.
In other Nationals news, NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro was schmoozing Russell Crowe in Coffs Harbour at the launch of a new movie studio, and talking up a string of new climate and country-destroying coal mines near Rylstone, having learned nothing from the recent collapse of the Shenhua and Bylong projects.
Earlier, anti-terrorist police from the fixated persons unit, apparently acting on false evidence, and at Barilaro’s behest, arrested 21 year old Kristo Langker, an employee of popular YouTuber Friendlyjordies (Jordan Shanks), who is being sued by Barilaro for defamation, in what appears to be an extraordinary and alarming over-reach of police powers. Barilaro’s behaviour suggests there may be even more to be revealed than the corruption and other misdemeanours already alleged by Friendlyjordies in a series of videos.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has since come to Friendlyjordies defence, saying ‘these events raise serious questions and should chill supporters of free speech to the bone.’ Gladys Berejeklian has said nothing.
With her good mate Scott Morrison still in quarantine, stay tuned for more opportunities for the National Party to create distracting havoc in coming weeks.
Author
Originally from Canberra, David Lowe is an award-winning film-maker, writer and photographer with particular interests in the environment and technology. He’s known for his work with Cloudcatcher Media as a campaigner against unconventional gas and coal.
David has also written about Australian history. Many years ago, he did work experience in Parliament House with Mungo MacCallum. David has lived off-grid in the Northern Rivers since 2008.
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