Shamelessly political

I've said before that the Liberals need to get into post-Cold War politics.  Perhaps I should explain myself.  Here's an excerpt from a 4 Corners program broadcast during the meltdown over the Emissions Trading Scheme legislation late last year:

SARAH FERGUSON: Nick Minchin is Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, you could also call him the godfather of the liberals climate sceptics. He's home in Adelaide watching his daughter's netball team.

NICK MINCHIN: I frankly strongly object to you know, politicians and others trying to terrify 12 year old girls that their planet's about to melt, you know. I mean really it is appalling some of that that sort of behaviour.

SARAH FERGUSON: Angry about what he sees as the indoctrination of children, he blames the left.

NICK MINCHIN: For the extreme left it provides the opportunity to do what they've always wanted to do, to sort of de-industrialise the western world. You know the collapse of communism was a disaster for the left, and the, and really they embraced environmentalism as their new religion.

SARAH FERGUSON: Minchin encourages his junior colleagues to speak out too.

NICK MINCHIN: I don't mind being branded a sceptic about the theory that that human emissions and CO2 are the main driver of global change - of global warming. I don't accept that and I've said that publically. I guess if I can say it, I would hope that others would feel free to do so.

SARAH FERGUSON: The junior south Australian liberal senator, Cory Bernardi, takes his cues from Minchin.

CORY BERNARDI: The fact that Nick has publicly supported the right of back benchers and others to speak up on a very critical issue is certainly encouraging.

(Excerpt of footage of Cory Bernardi at book launch, 27 January 2009)

CORY BERNARDI: The challenge for Australia, and the Australian parliament is to examine the facts of climate change and not just the opinion polls.

SARAH FERGUSON: Earlier this year Bernardi launched the book, Thank God For Carbon, a publication of the vehemently sceptical Lavoisier group.

"You know the collapse of communism was a disaster for the left...and really they embraced environmentalism as their new religion."

Minchin is retiring when the current Senate runs its course.  He has groomed an up-and-comer in the form of Cory Bernardi.  I urge you to read the transcript of the whole 4 Corners program to see just how madly antique these people are.  These people are seriously in the twilight zone if they think radical leftist politics pose any threat to civilization.  These men talk about the concerns of ordinary people over environmental degradation as the rise of some sort of neo-communism.  That is a dangerous ideological bat to be waving around when ordinary people are involved.

Minchin was largely behind the putsch that saw the end of Malcolm Turnbull's leadership of the Liberals in December 2009.  He was a strong supporter of the rise of Tony Abbott.  Minchin and Abbott were both influential acolytes in the cult of John Howard.  They are men of a certain era, and neither seems able to think outside the limitations of that period.  For example, both were among the voices urging Howard to stand down in the back rooms farce during the Sydney APEC meeting in 2007; they acquiesced in his decision that they did not know their own interests, along with the rest of the inner circle of the cabinet.  This is why they both ultimately need to go in order for the Liberal Party to become a viable prospect for government in the medium term.  Downer and Costello have flown the roost, Minchin will be doing so soon, and Abbott should give it serious thought, along with both the (in name but not nature) Liberal Bishops, among others.

Arguably there is a case to be made that moving to renewable energies would lay the groundwork for a renewal of manufacturing in this country, but leadership towards this highly desirable goal has evaporated in both the major parties.  The prospect of economic ruin is far stronger in direct proportion to the time it takes to launch serious policies to move to sources of energy other than fossil fuels, and forms of transport that are not reliant on oil in particular.

When I was in primary school we learned about harnessing the sun for energy-intensive tasks such as cooking sausages.  I belong to a generation which is accustomed to thinking through alternative ways of powering our lifestyle.  Given the opportunity, I would gladly go solar for electricity -- the body corporate would probably have a fit.  But to the likes of Nick Minchin and Cory Bernardi that makes me a communist.  What a hide.