Graph of the Day: Climate politics and intergenerational theft

There has been a lot of discussion about the inter-generational report, and the concept of “intergenerational theft” – skewed entirely by the current government around the idea of debt.

Of course, much of this has been debunked, but this graph grabbed out attention. The number of times climate change was mentioned in the report, this time, and in the three previous occasions.

The 2002 and 2007 reports were produced by the Howard governments, and the 2010 report by Labor, which actually had a climate change policy. Now we are back to a Coalition government, and climate change is barely mentioned. It did not feature once in the media statement issued by Treasurer Joe Hockey.

integen report

Ketan Joshi, a wind industry employee who prepared the graph said: “It isn’t particularly surprising that climate change was largely left out of the Intergenerational Report, but it is neatly representative of the approach that tackling a scientifically verified problem involves quietly pretending it’s not there.

“I think we underestimate how horrified and appalled future generations will be at our current blasé attitude towards this issue – not just in Hockey’s report but throughout society.”

 

 

 

Comments

4 responses to “Graph of the Day: Climate politics and intergenerational theft”

  1. Rob G Avatar
    Rob G

    When Abbott is kicked out, he’ll take Hockey with him and Australia can get on with the business of dealing with climate action.

    Big businesses today figure climate change potential policy and effects into their financial forecasts. So it goes beyond all sensible reasoning that the Coalition chooses to ignore it. I think it says a lot about our government when it ‘overlooks’ this part of the picture. And brings into question the accuracy of their intergenerational report.

  2. Peter Thomson Avatar
    Peter Thomson

    Debt can be written down. Climate change can’t. Really, let’s hope Labor have their act together at the next elections so we can remove this toxic Government.

    1. Raahul Kumar Avatar
      Raahul Kumar

      Don’t just rely on the Federal Election, a lot can be done at the State and local level to promote solar power, for instance. Don’t put all eggs in one basket.

  3. john Avatar
    john

    The sad outcome of not having a science department.
    Putting science into a left right perspective is delivering the worst possible disconnect from reality for this generation.
    Dissemination of disinformation has become a growth industry that scientists are not trained to deal with and frankly do not have the time to waste their energy on.
    The moral bankrupt position of some in the political sphere aided by some in industry is of some disquiet.
    We will be judged harshly as being a greedy bunch of navel gazers too preoccupied with our material goods and not at all concerned about our fellow inhabitants of this planet.
    I expect in 80 years time that the 1990-2020 era will be looked at as wasted years in some countries while others had better more science guided outcomes.
    Australia with our high level of education with our abundant RE assets is a dead weight on the effort being made.
    Yes there are pockets of effort however not exactly matching our RE asset resources.

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