Tag: Alan Griffiths

Categories
Australia

September 25, 1990 – Miners write to Alan Griffiths

Thirty six years ago, on this day, September 25th, 1990,

 Miners write letter to Alan Griffiths, Resources Minister

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 354ppm. As of 2026, 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 the settler colony known as Australia had always been extractivist and relying on export earnings. This used to come from agriculture and sheep. By the 1980s this had turned to minerals exports, coal, iron ore, uranium, and so on.

The specific context was that the Ecologically Sustainable Development policy process was about to start. This had been a quid pro quo between the Hawke Labor government for tacit support and preferences from greenie groups ahead of the 1990 federal election. The big end of town and also the miners union was deeply nervous that Ecologically Sustainable Development might mean some constraints on what they wanted to do, permission for projects and jobs available. This was a real fear, given what had happened in 1989 (or the perception of it) around the pulp mill in Tasmania, etc. So here you see the unions trying to remind the resources minister that there’s going to be a fight and they expect him to fight for them. 

What I think we can learn from this is the species is gonna respond like this. Or rather, maybe it could have been different, but it wasn’t and here we are.

What happened next ESD revealed the intellectual bankruptcy of the fossil fuel interests. They assumed that the whole process would be them dictating their recommendations to the chair of the individual working groups, but it turned out that they didn’t have any ideas or answers, and the environmentalists ran rings around them. Ultimately, however, the ESD was being kneecapped by late 1991 and when Keating took over from Hawke, the whole thing was basically thrown in the bin. 

On this topic, you might like these other posts on All Our Yesterdays

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References

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You can see the chronological list of All Our Yesterdays “on this day” posts here.

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.

If you want to get involved, let me know.

If you want to invite me on your podcast, that would boost my ego and probably improve the currently pitiful hit-rate on this site (the two are not-unrelated).

Also on this day: 

September 25, 1980 -Reagan turns out to be an ignorant fool. Who knew?

September 25, 1991-  European Commission proposes a carbon tax…

September 25, 1995 – Clean Coal. No, seriously.

September 25, 2003 – Bob Carr “strikes greenhouse deal” with European investors

Categories
Australia

April 12 1991 – Hawke’s “Energy Guide” 

Thirty five years ago, on this day, April 12th, 1991, an “Energy Guide”
was released. Here’s the press release…

MINISTER FOR RESOURCES ALAN GRIFFITHS

PIE91/963 5 April 1991

ENERGY GUIDE TO BE LAUNCHED ON APRIL 12

The Prime Minister, Mr Bob Hawke, will officially launch the consumer household hint booklet, the “Energy Guide” on April 12, the Minister for Resources, Mr Alan Griffiths announced today.

Mr Griffiths made the announcement during an opening speech to a workshop organised by Greenhouse Action Australia in Melbourne.

Throughout the speech, the Minister highlighted the need for both household and industry consumers to take responsibility for short term measures which would have an immediate effect  on greenhouse gas emissions.  

http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22media%2Fpressrel%2FHPR02002063%22

“The energy guide is an intensive educational exercise. It shows how to save energy, save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions without any loss of quality of life,” Mr Griffiths said.

The Energy Guide will be distributed to every Australian household this month.

“If every Australian follows the hints contained in the book, we could reduce our annual output of carbon dioxide by a massive 36 million tonnes each year,” Mr Griffiths said,

“The book is a first for Australia, and recognises us as world leaders in educational campaigns to reduce greenhouse emissions.”

The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was roughly 355ppm. As of 2026 it is 428ppm, but check here for daily measures. 

The broader context was that Australian political elites had been repeatedly warned about carbon dioxide build up, from the late 70s. You had the CSIRO conference in Port Phillip and then the 1980 symposium. These had been reported in places like the Canberra Times, National Party senators had talked about carbon dioxide build up. It was not exactly a state secret. 

The specific context was that in 1988 the issue had exploded into public awareness, thanks also to the CSIRO’s work as made possible by Barry Jones, Minister of Science, who had set up the Commission for the Future. Anyway, Labor Party had won elections in 1983, 1984 and 1987.The 1990 election had looked like a bridge too far, but Labor had squeaked home thanks to small g green voters, and here we see Bob Hawke having to engage with the issue, while also getting a photo op out of it. 

What I think we can learn from this is that this is the sort of light-green, blame-shifting, responsibility-shifting, big-picture-avoiding stuff that politicians love.  

What happened next:  So what we learn is that blame shifting is the name of the game. What happened next? Hawk was toppled a few months later, and all the environmental initiatives were binned by his successor, Paul Keating. 

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.

References

Also on this day: 

April 12, 1955 – Coventry Evening Telegraph – “Melting Ice Could Menace the World” – All Our Yesterdays

April 12, 1992 – seminar asks “How sustainable is Australian Energy?” (proposes switch to gas)

April 12, 1993 – “environmental economics” gets a puff piece