Thirteen years ago, on this day, July 3rd, 2012,
Emerson stands by Horror Movie performance https://www.news.com.au/national/emerson-stands-by-horror-movie-performance/news-story/4b07072f54f607771047b831e85448d4
The singing was bad. And now the Trade Minister has been slammed for being flippant.
oe Hockey has slammed Craig Emerson as a “circus clown” who doesn’t take the concerns of Australians seriously.
“During a television interview yesterday, Mr Emerson started dancing and singing “no Whyalla wipeout, there on my TV” to the tune of 1975 Skyhooks single, Horror Movie.
Mr Emerson’s reference to Whyalla follows comments from Opposition Leader Tony Abbott that the carbon tax would wipe the South Australian town off the map.”
By Malcolm Farr and National Political Editor
The amount of carbon dioxide in the air was 394ppm. 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 Australian political elites had decided in 1990 not to do anything serious about climate change. Fun fact – it was Craig Emerson who bashed out, under Paul Keating’s orders – the loophole in the “Interim Planning Target” in October 1990 that meant Environment Minister Ros Kelly could go to the Second World Climate Conference with her head high.
The specific context was that the LNP Opposition, led by the brutally effective moron Tony Abbott (easily the most effective opposition leader ever. Pity about how he handled the PM gig…) had been using “no carbon tax” as a wrecking ball against Prime Minister Rudd, then Gillard, since December 2009. This was in the midst of all that.
What I think we can learn from this Joe Hockey was not nearly as smart as Joe Hockey thought. Craig Emerson can’t sing.
What happened next Abbott became Prime Minister, abolished the carbon price. Australia is a criminal country. Its elites have destroyed the prospects for a habitable continent, in the most part. Went to the Right Schools and Universities but somehow managed to be thick ecocidal turds. Go figure.
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.