While new UK PM Theresa May was disestablishing Britain’s Department of Energy and Climate Change in her very first day in office – raising hope with some of us that she may be as completely wet as she appears – Australia’s Malcolm Turnbull is going the reverse route:
The Dept of Environment has been merged with Energy, which makes sense for carbon traders and the renewables industry, but perhaps not for the environment. [ref: JO NOVA]
Mind you, Greenpeace and the Greens don’t like the appointee in charge of the new super-ministry, which offers some cause for hope:
Former Greens leader Bob Brown said Mr Frydenberg would bury Australia’s environmental hopes and aspirations.
“The pro-nuclear, pro-coal Frydenberg has been whingeing about environmental campaigns against him in his seat of Kooyong,” Mr Brown said.
He has previously supported an end to Victoria’s moratorium on onshore gas exploration and praised Margaret Thatcher’s record on environment and climate change.
Although Thatcher’s record is not great, to be fair. There is evidence for example that it was her who helped begin the climate wailing. Nonetheless:
Greenpeace campaigner Nikola Casule said Mr Frydenberg’s views on climate change were “an embarrassing relic from a different era.”
Which sounds much more promising. As does this:
The Victoria MP has long been a supporter of nuclear energy, and has shown he is also a strong supporter of the coal industry, recently insisting it had a strong future, describing it as a “living, breathing, success story.” …
On coal … Frydenberg said: “There is a strong moral case here,” …. “Over a billion people don’t have access to electricity. That means that more 2 billion people today are using wood and dung for their cooking.”
Which is true – and Al Gore’s wet dream would keep them that way.
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