Abbott warns of left wing threat behind Copenhagen

Liberal leader Tony Abbott gave a revealing interview on ABC's Lateline two weeks ago:

“TONY JONES: …Let me ask you this, do you agree with [Senator] Nick Minchin when he says “the whole climate change issue is a left wing conspiracy to deindustrialise the western world”.

TONY ABBOTT: Well, you’ve got to understand just how far reaching an emissions trading scheme will ultimately be. It was Ken Henry himself who said that this was the biggest piece of financial restructuring that we have ever seen. I mean, what the advocates, what the Government wants to do, over time, is basically change the whole way we generate power – the whole way we transport ourselves. I mean this is a massive sweeping change that will affect the very way people live. It’s not just like the GST. It’s much bigger than that.

TONY JONES: Is it a left-wing conspiracy? The climate change debate, the linking of climate change and global warming – is it a left wing conspiracy as Nick Minchin says to deindustrialise the western world?

TONY ABBOTT: I think certainly there are some people whose agenda is not just environmental who’ve leapt on this particular bandwagon, and I don’t like the theological tone that so often creeps into this debate.

I particularly dislike the way Kevin Rudd in Parliament was running around like Torquemada, looking for heresy, trying to create his own version of the Salem witch hunts against people that don’t share his particular view on this.

TONY JONES: Senator Minchin also says since the collapse of communism, the left has embraced environmentalism as their new religion. You seem to be hinting you think something similar – you’ve talked already about the evangelical fervour of scientists. You’ve warned this whole thing might be just a fad.

You’ve also poked fun at the idea of sea-level rises – you’ve suggested the world is cooling, not warming. You don’t sound that far away from the Minchin brand of scepticism.

TONY ABBOTT: Well Tony, I’m on the record on all of these things and I refuse to be terrified of the future. I think that humankind has been pretty good at coping with the challenges that we’ve been given.

If you look at Roman times, grapes grew up against Hadrian’s Wall – medieval times they grew crops in Greenland. In the 1700s they had ice fairs on the Thames. So the world has been significantly hotter, significantly colder than it is now. We’ve coped.

I don’t say there aren’t problems, haven’t been problems, might not be problems, but I refuse to be terrified of the court.

TONY JONES: Do you think it’s a conspiracy.

TONY ABBOTT: I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that I refuse to be terrified of the future.”

Hat tip: WUWT

Comments

[AcidComments]

Of interest:

Copenhagen conference: India, China plan joint exit

The four countries, which include Brazil and South Africa, agreed to a strategy that involves jointly walking out of the conference if the developed nations try to force their own terms on the developing world, Jairam Ramesh, the Indian minister for environment and forests (independent charge), said.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
/world/china/Copenhagen-conference-India-China-plan-joint-exit/articleshow/5279771.cms

[Doug]

From the Brisbane Times.

Emissions Trading Scheme
Has the Senate done the right thing voting down the ETS?

Yes 61%
No 39%

[BaamBamm Bammmy]

Looks like Rob Muldoon was Wrong!

Those that have Fled NZ have raised the IQ of Australia ... Significantly.

Can't say that much for the people left here?

[CM]

The Australian right is in as much of a complete shambles as the American right. So Abbot's the right man for the right time on that score.