Thirty six years ago, on this day, June 23rd, 1989, Graham Richardson, Federal Environment Minister, says some accurate things….
THE Federal Government is considering changes to cut Australia’s excessive energy consumption, according to Federal Environment Minister Senator Graham Richardson.
Everything from power stations to cars would be targeted to produce sizeable drops in energy use, he said in an interview in Adelaide on Friday after an ALP fund-raising dinner.
Senator Richardson said Australia produced some of the highest per capita levels of carbon dioxide in the world, while our economy ranked among the most energy intensive in the world.
In 1984, Australia ranked 13th in the world in per capita consumption of commercially traded fuels-a figure which Senator Richardson said was very high.
Australia had a long way to go to match other nations in cutting waste and using energy more efficiently, he said.
Jones, B. 1989. Govt aiming to cut fuel usage. Sun Herald, 25 June, p.3.
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 353ppm. As of 2025 it is 430ppm, but check here for daily measures.
The context was that Richardson was ‘switched on’ to eco issues. And there was an election coming, one that was going to be very very tight…
What I think we can learn from this is that when they feel they might lose office, politicians may be willing/able to think a little outside the box
What happened next is that Richardson moved on from the Environment portfolio after the March 1990 election. By late 1991 the “green” moment had passed. The ALP never spoke the truth in quite this way again…
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: