Climate change is no plaything
letter published in The Australian, 23 November 2009
YOUR editorial “Never mind the science, just watch the politics” (21-22/11) argues that “the politics of climate change are clear”—the Coalition will likely be “smashed” at the next election if it fails to support leader Malcolm Turnbull and tries “to reverse the widespread public belief that global warming is man-made”.
An alternative interpretation would recognise three things:
First, the Coalition will almost certainly be “smashed” under its present leader and policies.
Second, Kevin Rudd wants Turnbull to stay as leader, and this is behind his strategy of meeting Turnbull’s request to negotiate changes in the ETS scheme.
Third, the man-made global warming thesis is majority supported because the case against it has not been put at the political level.
Were the Coalition to now publicly identify the many problems with the thesis, and offer the readily available alternative approaches, its prospects at the next election would be greatly enhanced.
The revelation that an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead author has been manipulating temperature data published by the Hadley Centre provides the Coalition an opportunity to expose the flawed science used by the IPCC.
Des Moore, director, Institute for Private Enterprise, South Yarra, Vic