Thirteen years ago, on this day, February 28, 2010, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was on a then-quite-good ABC TV program called “Insiders.”
He said this: “When our kids look back in 20 years and ask the question of this generation, ‘were they fair dinkum or did they walk away from it?’, I’d rather say that I threw everything at it, threw absolutely everything at it, to try and make it work, and to try and deliver an outcome at home and abroad.
“We think we’ve got to act, and act appropriately. That’s why we don’t walk away from this one bit.”
Then two months later, he walked away from the whole issue of climate change, trying to pin it all on Tony Abbott. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-06-24/rudds-downfall-he-never-really-got-it/880258 and https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-17085
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 391ppm. As of 2023 it is 419ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was
Kevin Rudd had skilfully come to power in late 2007 by using climate change as a wedge against his political opponents – first Prime Minister John Howard, and then, once he got the top job, against opposition leaders Brendan Nelson and Malcolm Turnbull. But then, in 2009, he came up against junkyard dog Tony Abbott, and he lost his nerve. He was advised to call an election (see December 23 blog post from last year). He didn’t, and then didn’t figure out a way of climbing down from his climate position. He dismissed a proposal from the Greens for an interim carbon tax. He … ah, I could go on.
What I think we can learn from this
Politicians who talk about “great moral challenge” without showing skill or guts are worse than useless, because they encourage cynicism and fatalism, making it that much harder for those who come after them.
What happened next
Rudd bailed on climate. This tanked his previously high approval ratings (which were already taking a dent, it’s true) Rudd then ran off on a Mining Tax crusade. That came to an end, almost by accident, when his long-suffering and until-then loyal deputy Julia Gillard challenged for the leadership in June 2010. Gillard got some carbon pricing legislation through, but at the cost of, well, everything.
This was all unnecessary. If Rudd had had skill or guts….
NB, for any ALPers – nope, never been a member of the Greens, and when you focus on their actions during the CPRS vote, you reveal that you are unwilling to admit that your guy was not as smart or courageous as he thought, or as he needed to be.
What do you think? Does this pass the ‘so what?’ threshold? Have I got facts wrong? Interpretation wrong? Do comment on this post.