Can anyone explain this useless climate sacrifice?
Malcolm Turnbull yesterday ratified the Paris accord to cut our emissions, which will cost jobs. But on our own, our sacrifice has no effect. Nor will it inspire any of the world's top three emitters to match our sacrifice, now that Donald Trump will be president.
When I asked our Energy and Environment Minister to explain this madness he couldn't.
Listen for yourself, about half an hour in.
This is insane.
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As I said last night, Malcolm Turnbull completely bungled his response to Donald Trump's win.
Turnbull has signalled Australia will not seek to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement even if the US president-elect, Donald Trump, follows through on his threat to cancel the emissions reductions commitments made by Barack Obama last December.
Turnbull on Thursday confirmed Australia had ratified the Paris agreement...
After Trump’s victory, and ahead of Turnbull’s confirmation of the government’s intentions with ratification on Thursday morning, the chairman of the government’s backbench committee on the environment and energy, the Liberal MP Craig Kelly, took to Facebook to declare the Paris agreement was now “cactus.”...
Trump’s victory has emboldened Australian political conservatives, who have used the opportunity to declare local MPs need to push back against so-called “elite” opinion and speak to majority views within the electorate.
Turnbull attempted during the session to shrug off Kelly’s display of defiance, declaring he was “proud to enter into agreement on behalf of Australia”.
“My government is committed to [the Paris agreement]. We have ratified it,” he said.
Reader Peter of Bellevue Hill is right:
AB, remarkable that Kelly has shown more political smarts in a single Facebook post than Turnbull has in an entire parliamentary career.
As is invariably the case when left to his own devices, Turnbull has made a dud call on Paris in the wake of Trump's election.
Whenever Turnbull should bet on red, he puts everything on black. When he should turn right, he always turns left. He rushes when he should wait, and dithers when a swift decision is needed. His capacity for political misjudgment is uncanny.