Twenty five years ago, on this day, September 8th, 2000, Lenore Taylor, then at the Fin, wrote an interesting piece.
Senator Nick Minchin had a big Cabinet win on greenhouse policy two weeks ago.
It was a win that had been preceded by months of bitter debate, by several inconclusive Cabinet discussions and by a frenzy of lobbying by business organisations all of which occurred with very little public fanfare.
What he won was a series of promises by Government to Industry to try to overcome their deep concerns about greenhouse-related investment uncertainty.
But it’s very hard to reassure someone about what’s down the track if you don’t know what’s down the track.
And given that no-one knows whether the Kyoto Protocol will ever be ratified, nor what its final form will be if it is, this is a very winding and difficult-to-predict track indeed.
Taylor. L. 2000. Minchin’s quiet win on greenhouse policies. The Australian Financial Review, 8 September, p.16
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 370ppm. As of 2025, when this post was published, it is 430ppm. This matters because the more carbon dioxide in the air, the more heat gets trapped. The more heat, the more extreme weather events. You can make it more complicated than that if you want, but really, it’s not. Fwiw, I have a tattoo of the Keeling Curve on my left forearm.
The broader context was that both ALP and Coalition elites were deeply hostile to any action on climate change (because their current business mates would suffer, and because they just didn’t really buy what the scientists were saying).
The specific context was that a proposal for an Emissions Trading Scheme had been brought before the Cabinet in August. Minchin was the guy who killed it, while Honest John sat on smiling, like Emperor Palpatine.
What I think we can learn from this is that the governments of settler colonies are gonna do this. But so are other governments. It’s just what governments do….
What happened next
In 2003 it was John Howard’s turn to get his hands dirty – in response to a united Cabinet. He delayed for a month, then came back and said “nope.” There is still time to get him to the Hague, you know…
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.
Also on this day:
September 8, 1972 – Green activist vanishes off face of Earth… – All Our Yesterdays
September 8, 1990 – Australian #climate denialist spouting his nonsense…
September 8, 2014 – Lobster boat blockaders have charges dropped.