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Deputy PM says linking bushfires to climate change is 'woke capital-city greenies ravings' – politics live
Deputy PM says linking bushfires to climate change is 'woke capital-city greenies ravings' – politics live
(32 minutes later)
The Senate-only sitting week has started in the midst of a debate on climate change as ‘catastrophic’ blazes threaten swathes of NSW and Queensland. All the day’s events, live
The Senate-only sitting week has started in the midst of a debate on climate change as ‘catastrophic’ blazes threaten swathes of NSW and Queensland. All the day’s events, live
(We are still working on a moderator. Hold tight – in the mean time, you can always catch me on Twitter.)
And Michael McCormack ahead of the May election on how we need to be more respectful of each other in political debate:
Michael McCormack’s first speech included this line:
How quickly we forget.
Welcome back to the Senate, Jim Molan
AAP is reporting that Labor is continuing the fight against the government’s unions bill.
AAP is reporting that Labor is continuing the fight against the government’s unions bill.
Our leaders just covering themselves in glory and leadership, this morning:
Our leaders just covering themselves in glory and leadership, this morning:
Also a reminder, because it didn’t get a hell of a lot of attention late last week, released as it was at the same time as the latest drought response, but the government-appointed drought coordinator general, Major Gen Stephen Day, was also pretty emphatic about climate change’s impact on our environment.
Also a reminder, because it didn’t get a hell of a lot of attention late last week, released as it was at the same time as the latest drought response, but the government-appointed drought coordinator general, Major Gen Stephen Day, was also pretty emphatic about climate change’s impact on our environment.
Hopefully, Michael McCormack has the opportunity to call him a “raving inner-city lunatic” to his face.
Hopefully, Michael McCormack has the opportunity to call him a “raving inner-city lunatic” to his face.
Also a reminder that it is a politician’s job to look at overarching policy to help those on the ground. #thoughtsandprayers don’t stop catastrophic fires.
Also a reminder that it is a politician’s job to look at overarching policy to help those on the ground. #thoughtsandprayers don’t stop catastrophic fires.
Given Michael McCormack’s line of thinking, backed up by David Littleproud, from now on, no one is allowed to mention speeding or other driver-caused factors in road crashes, drug use in overdoses, or alcohol in “fuelled” violence.
Discussing contributing factors is cancelled.
Also: don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you in the comments. We just have to wait until there is a moderator available to turn them on – there is a bit going on in the world at the moment, but we will have you below the line very soon.
Another “raving inner city lunatic”, obviously:
LNP MP and minister for water resources, drought, rural finance, natural disaster and emergency management David Littleproud was also on ABC TV this morning and was asked about Michael McCormack’s comments by host Michael Rowland.
Michael Rowland: Your boss, Michael McCormack, says it galls him when people blame climate change on these bushfires and he says “it is raving inner-city lunatics”. What do you make of that language?
David Littleproud: Look, I think the frustrating thing is there are a number of people out there that have been impacted by this fire that are very fragile and those that are traumatised and those that have a lot of anxiety at the moment worrying over the next couple of days worrying about what might happen. This is not the time by these people that want to weaponise climate change ...
MR: Minister, excuse the interruption. We’re not talking about politicians. We’re talking about residents here, with no political axe to grind, saying climate change is a concern, something’s new, something’s changed, these fires are unprecedented. They’re not talking politics.
DL: Well, and when we do talk about that we can say that we are leading the world but we need the world to lead with us. We need other international communities to come with us. We expect that. We put our hand up as a federal government and said we’ll do our bit of the heavy lifting with respect to emissions reductions. We’ll do that because that’s what scientists tell us is the best way to address it but we need other nations to lead with us. Australia can’t do it all by ourselves and it is unrealistic to think we can do it by ourselves. That’s why we need to be the global leader that we are and expect other nations to come with us.
MR: Are people concerned with climate change, again, “raving inner-city lunatics”?
DL: Obviously these types of events bring emotions out and everybody needs to be focus just on the here and now at the moment and those conversations will continue but we have a strong ...
MR: Was Michael McCormack wrong to say that? Was Michael McCormack being too emotional?
DL: No, I mean, Michael McCormack has been out talking to the people that have been impacted. He’s trying to get results for those people, those people that have had their homes lost, those people that are concerned today and tomorrow that will lose their homes, he’s concerned about making sure that our focus, our primary focus, from state, federal government and local state, federal government and local government is all about them. That’s the responsible thing to do. Let’s have those conversations in the cold, hard light of day after the event. But our focus and energy should be on the men and women fighting these fires and also the men and women, and children who are at risk.
I am not sure if Carol Sparks qualifies as one of the “raving inner-city lunatics” or “inner-city lefties” raising concerns about climate change in Michael McCormack land, but who knows.
Carol Sparks, the mayor of Glen Innes Severn council, which had an absolute horror weekend dealing with the fires, spoke to ABC TV this morning about Michael McCormack’s interview, where he said he found it “galling” to have climate change raised as the cause of worsening fires:
Meanwhile, the latest Newspoll is out, and with all the usual caveats about polling, it shows the Coalition and Labor on 50/50 for the first time since the election, in terms of two-party-preferred.
The Australian put that down to the drought and the softening economy.
On the leaders front, Scott Morrison will attend a Remembrance Day ceremony in Sydney, while I believe Anthony Albanese will attend the War Memorial service with Linda Reynolds.
Three people have been confirmed as dead, another five are unaccounted for and 40 people have been injured in the latest fire emergency which has also taken scores of homes and property.
The NSW Rural Fire Service has also placed the greater Sydney region under a “catastrophic” fire risk for the first time since the ratings system began about a decade ago.
You can hear Michael McCormack talk about the very “concerning” early start to the bushfire season, without mentioning any of the reasons why, here.
We start the Senate-only sitting week in the midst of an argument over whether or not Australia can manage to have a climate change discussion in the midst of an event made worse by climate change.
Despite fire-fighting bosses, scientists and even the drought coordinator-general saying that climate change is going to make events which have always occurred in this nation – bushfires, drought, etc – worse, (which we can all see), no one is allowed to mention the giant burning elephant in the room.
The deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, summed up this argument on ABC RN radio this morning:
“We’ve had fires in Australia since time began, and what people need now is sympathy, understanding, help and shelter,” he said.
“They don’t need the ravings of some pure, enlightened and woke capital-city greenies at this time.”
#thoughtsandprayers
We’ll have the continued “discussion” around that, as well as what happens in the Senate. The big bills – medevac among them – are not on the list as yet, so you all know what that means.
The Senate won’t sit until 12.30pm because of Rememberance Day, so we have some time to get into the nitty gritty of what has happened over the last couple of weeks. For that, you have Mike Bowers, Katharine Murphy, Sarah Martin and Paul Karp at your disposal. Plus, a slightly fluey, but still standing me.
