The Editor
Letters to the Editor
Herald Sun
24 June 2011
Open Response to Eminent Persons and Others
Carbon is a dirty grimy substance that pollutes the atmosphere and for this reason is presented to you as the Government's target to tax.
However the substance the Government intends to tax is carbon dioxide[CO2] which is neither a pollutant or a poison , but a colourless tasteless, odourless gas that as my agricultural science master taught me is nature's greatest fertiliser necessary for the life of all trees plants, pastures and crops. Then through photosynthesis those same trees, plants, pastures and
crops turn CO2 into oxygen the very substance we breathe to live and that sustains all human, animal and bird life on earth.
It is intellectually dishonest for Prime Minister Gillard, Minister Combet, and advisors Garnaut and Flannery to mislead people by using the term carbon pollution.
The people of Australia deserve honesty in a debate that seeks to raise billions of dollars in a new tax.
Peter Nixon
Fmr Minister for Primary Industry
27 June, 2011
Carbon Dioxide
Extract from Senaor Nick Minchin's Valedictory Speech-
"Perhaps the most curious thing to me on reflecting on my career is the amount of time and energy occupied by consideration of the issue of carbon dioxide. Little did I know when I entered this place 18 years ago that carbon dioxide would play such a significant role in mycareer.Education, health, defence, foreign affairs,taxation and fiscal and monetary policy—all of these I expected to dominate political discourse. But carbon dioxide? Never. As I learnt in school, carbon dioxide is a clear, odourless, tasteless and invisible gas that is actually vital to life on earth. It constitutes 0.04 per cent of the atmosphere. Nature is responsible for 97 per cent of the earth's production of CO2; humans, just three per cent. And yet many now see anthropogenic CO2 as the greatest threat to humankind on our planet, a threat which demands no less than an economic revolution to avert. Anyone who dares question this as yet unproven theory of anthropogenic global warming is branded a denier, as we heard from my good friend Senator Evans today, and treated as a veritable pariah.
I must say that when I first learned of the existence of the Australian Greenhouse Office, I assumed it was responsible for supplying tomatoes to the Parliament House kitchen. But, no, as I soon learnt as industry minister, it was in fact a government funded redoubt of veritable soldiers in a war against carbon dioxide.The zealotry and obsessive passion of these warriors in the battle against the apparent evils of carbon dioxide remains a curiosity to me. After fighting these people for three years as industry minister, I really did wish they would just go away and grow tomatoes. I am quite surprised and rather disappointed by the loneliness, isolation and indeed demonisation the sadly misunderstood CO2 is experiencing. Thus,upon leaving the parliament, I am contemplating the foundation of an organisation called 'The Friends of Carbon Dioxide'. Membership will of course be open to all, including the plants whose very existence depends on CO2. I think this organisation's slogan, 'CO2 is not pollution', self-selects. It has both accuracy and melody to commend it. I do acknowledge the remarkable power of CO2. After all, it led me to have to do something I had thought unthinkable, and that was to resign from the coalition frontbench at the end of 2009—albeit for only a very short time. CO2 played a significant part in the demise of Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull.It may well result in the demise of our current Prime Minister, so that really is some gas!
I do remain optimistic that one day the world will realise that carbon dioxide is more of a friend than an enemy to the earth's flora and fauna, and I do seriously believe that, given the extraordinary complexity of the natural forces controlling our climate, which have done so for millions of years, the only sensible policy response to the natural process of climate change is prudent and cost-effective adaptation."
"Perhaps the most curious thing to me on reflecting on my career is the amount of time and energy occupied by consideration of the issue of carbon dioxide. Little did I know when I entered this place 18 years ago that carbon dioxide would play such a significant role in mycareer.Education, health, defence, foreign affairs,taxation and fiscal and monetary policy—all of these I expected to dominate political discourse. But carbon dioxide? Never. As I learnt in school, carbon dioxide is a clear, odourless, tasteless and invisible gas that is actually vital to life on earth. It constitutes 0.04 per cent of the atmosphere. Nature is responsible for 97 per cent of the earth's production of CO2; humans, just three per cent. And yet many now see anthropogenic CO2 as the greatest threat to humankind on our planet, a threat which demands no less than an economic revolution to avert. Anyone who dares question this as yet unproven theory of anthropogenic global warming is branded a denier, as we heard from my good friend Senator Evans today, and treated as a veritable pariah.
I must say that when I first learned of the existence of the Australian Greenhouse Office, I assumed it was responsible for supplying tomatoes to the Parliament House kitchen. But, no, as I soon learnt as industry minister, it was in fact a government funded redoubt of veritable soldiers in a war against carbon dioxide.The zealotry and obsessive passion of these warriors in the battle against the apparent evils of carbon dioxide remains a curiosity to me. After fighting these people for three years as industry minister, I really did wish they would just go away and grow tomatoes. I am quite surprised and rather disappointed by the loneliness, isolation and indeed demonisation the sadly misunderstood CO2 is experiencing. Thus,upon leaving the parliament, I am contemplating the foundation of an organisation called 'The Friends of Carbon Dioxide'. Membership will of course be open to all, including the plants whose very existence depends on CO2. I think this organisation's slogan, 'CO2 is not pollution', self-selects. It has both accuracy and melody to commend it. I do acknowledge the remarkable power of CO2. After all, it led me to have to do something I had thought unthinkable, and that was to resign from the coalition frontbench at the end of 2009—albeit for only a very short time. CO2 played a significant part in the demise of Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull.It may well result in the demise of our current Prime Minister, so that really is some gas!
I do remain optimistic that one day the world will realise that carbon dioxide is more of a friend than an enemy to the earth's flora and fauna, and I do seriously believe that, given the extraordinary complexity of the natural forces controlling our climate, which have done so for millions of years, the only sensible policy response to the natural process of climate change is prudent and cost-effective adaptation."
17 June, 2011
Truth-a self lecture
I like this:
"Perception will not be our driver,because reality ultimately takes over from perception and it's reality we rely on in establishing our record. (Graeme Samuel in discussing his time as Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission 12.06.11.)
I believe we should constantly seek after our perception of the truth, uninfluenced by whatever the conventional wisdom may be. In pursuing a point, don't get angry or rude,but just keep hammering away at what you believe to be true. Sir Gustav Nossal talks of "sweet reason".
Beware of being dogmatic and remember the saying (attributed to J.M. Keynes and/or Einstein)- "When the facts change, I change my mind - what do you do, sir?"
"Perception will not be our driver,because reality ultimately takes over from perception and it's reality we rely on in establishing our record. (Graeme Samuel in discussing his time as Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission 12.06.11.)
I believe we should constantly seek after our perception of the truth, uninfluenced by whatever the conventional wisdom may be. In pursuing a point, don't get angry or rude,but just keep hammering away at what you believe to be true. Sir Gustav Nossal talks of "sweet reason".
Beware of being dogmatic and remember the saying (attributed to J.M. Keynes and/or Einstein)- "When the facts change, I change my mind - what do you do, sir?"
13 June, 2011
Live Cattle Exports
I am deeply concerned at the turmoil caused in Northern Australia by the suspension of the live cattle trade to Indonesia.
Nobody would condone the animal cruelty witnessed in the Four Corners programme. And nobody would contend that what we witnessed was representative of the whole Indonesian abattoir scene. The cruelty must be stopped, but to do that by suspending the entire export trade is surely using a sledgehammer to crack a nut and creating more problems than it solves.
What we are now witnessing is a Government reacting to an extreme television expose stirred up by animal liberation extremists, with apparently no understanding or real concern for the massive impact upon northern Australian beef producers,Indonesian farmers and all of the ancillary services which support Northern Australia's major agricultural industry, at the height of their selling season.
Industry experts, many of whom have visited Indonesian abattoirs, say that they have never witnessed such cruelty. Whilst any cruelty is unacceptable,there is no doubt the Four Corners producers dug deep and hard to find footage to meet their chosen angle.
Industry experts also say that it would be a relatively simple matter to immediately make export sales conditional upon ultimate slaughter in Australian approved abattoirs only. The Indonesian President has personally advocated this solution.
Most of the Australian public would not know of how exports of weaner cattle to Indonesia have in recent years dominated the beef industry in our North. Station programmes,transport (road and shipping), marshalling yards,feed production etc. all represent significant investment and employment to service this trade. At the Indonesian end,local investment in feedlots, abattoirs and small farmer production of feed for the feedlots, all represent very important economic activity and employment for a developing country.
If our Government has any real concern for human and animal welfare, rather than pandering to noisy extremists,it would immediately move to resolve this matter now,not in six months time.
(This post, minus the fourth and fifth paragraphs, was published as a letter in The Australian on 14th June.)
Nobody would condone the animal cruelty witnessed in the Four Corners programme. And nobody would contend that what we witnessed was representative of the whole Indonesian abattoir scene. The cruelty must be stopped, but to do that by suspending the entire export trade is surely using a sledgehammer to crack a nut and creating more problems than it solves.
What we are now witnessing is a Government reacting to an extreme television expose stirred up by animal liberation extremists, with apparently no understanding or real concern for the massive impact upon northern Australian beef producers,Indonesian farmers and all of the ancillary services which support Northern Australia's major agricultural industry, at the height of their selling season.
Industry experts, many of whom have visited Indonesian abattoirs, say that they have never witnessed such cruelty. Whilst any cruelty is unacceptable,there is no doubt the Four Corners producers dug deep and hard to find footage to meet their chosen angle.
Industry experts also say that it would be a relatively simple matter to immediately make export sales conditional upon ultimate slaughter in Australian approved abattoirs only. The Indonesian President has personally advocated this solution.
Most of the Australian public would not know of how exports of weaner cattle to Indonesia have in recent years dominated the beef industry in our North. Station programmes,transport (road and shipping), marshalling yards,feed production etc. all represent significant investment and employment to service this trade. At the Indonesian end,local investment in feedlots, abattoirs and small farmer production of feed for the feedlots, all represent very important economic activity and employment for a developing country.
If our Government has any real concern for human and animal welfare, rather than pandering to noisy extremists,it would immediately move to resolve this matter now,not in six months time.
(This post, minus the fourth and fifth paragraphs, was published as a letter in The Australian on 14th June.)
08 June, 2011
The Barrages and the Lower Lakes
The linked article,published in The Australian on 7th June should be compulsory reading for all those interested in the management of the Murray Darling Basin.
I wrote the following letter to the Editor in support, which at this point has not been published:
Congratulations to Johnny Kahlbetzer for so succinctly explaining (‘Free-Flowing Estuary Vital to Healthy River System-The Australian 7th June) the mis-treatment of the Lower Lakes at the mouth of the Murray River. For far too long the South Australian's have been playing the "end of the river victim's card" and this has diverted attention from the unnatural state of Lakes Albert and Alexandrina and has focused attention on upstream diversions rather than the root cause of downstream barriers blocking out the Southern Ocean. It is extraordinary that this situation and the enormous losses of fresh water to evaporation, did not rate a single mention in the much criticised Guide to the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
I wrote the following letter to the Editor in support, which at this point has not been published:
Congratulations to Johnny Kahlbetzer for so succinctly explaining (‘Free-Flowing Estuary Vital to Healthy River System-The Australian 7th June) the mis-treatment of the Lower Lakes at the mouth of the Murray River. For far too long the South Australian's have been playing the "end of the river victim's card" and this has diverted attention from the unnatural state of Lakes Albert and Alexandrina and has focused attention on upstream diversions rather than the root cause of downstream barriers blocking out the Southern Ocean. It is extraordinary that this situation and the enormous losses of fresh water to evaporation, did not rate a single mention in the much criticised Guide to the Murray Darling Basin Plan.
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