Twenty three years ago, on this day, November 7, 2000, a committee of Australian federal MPs released a report about climate policy, in the wake of the government’s intransigence…
‘The heat is on: Australia’s Greenhouse Future’ Senate Committee report released:
The report criticises the Government for a lack of commitment to climate change policy. More than 100 recommendations are made.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 369.7ppm. As of 2023 it is 419ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that John Howard had made it pretty clear that he wasn’t going to do anything on climate. So Labor and Democrat politicians, especially in the Senate, had done what you do in this circumstance – you use the parliamentary system to create space for dissident voices and critique of government policy, in the hope of making at least some government ministers and governing party members sit up and take notice. Maybe get some new ideas going, give NGOs a sense that they’re influencing matters, and keep the whole show – in every sense – on the road.
What I think we can learn from this
Reports always need to be read in context…
What happened next
The Howard government lost no sleep, and kept on being what it was.
Am I too cynical? Is that possible? Can you be cynical enough? The game is the game.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Please do comment on this post, unless you are a denialist, obvs.