Voices of Bradfield

Voices of Bradfield is a newly-formed local organisation. It is one of the Voices groups springing up in 30 electorates across the country, modelled on the successful Voices of Indi and Voices of Warringah groups. 

Voices of Bradfield is concerned that the Morrison government is not listening to voters. Instead, the government seems to be under the sway of vested interests. 

Voices of Bradfield is consulting with local voters in the Bradfield electorate. Out consultations so far indicate that local people have three main concerns.

• Ineffective policies to combat climate change
• Failure to implement a federal anti-corruption commission
• Poor leadership, incompetent government and corrupt practices.

We want to hear from you. 

Visit our website. 

Or catch up with us on Facebook or Twitter, where we are @voicesbradfield.

Australia so embarrassed at climate summit 23 April 2021

At the International Climate Summit on 23 April 2021, Scott Morrison threw out a haze of lies and misdirections.

These lies are obvious to Australia’s international peers. The climate policies of European countries, Britain, many Asian countries, and thankfully US again, are informed by deep knowledge of the situation and understanding of the range of policy levers available to bring change. They will have heard this speech through informed eyes.

Of course, most Australians won’t have this depth of knowledge. I would guess that most politicians don’t know the facts either.

So, here are some facts. We wouldn't want our politicians to be ignorant of the facts, would we?

1.   Mr Morrison claimed Australia is “playing our part to keep the 1.5 degrees within reach.” It’s good to see that he acknowledges the agreed goal is to keep global warming below 1.5C increase. Even recently, LNP governments have failed to acknowledge the basic facts of climate change.

The Climate Targets Panel estimates Australia's fair share to keep warming to 1.5 degrees requires a 74 per cent drop in emissions by 2030 on 2005 levels. Australia's target remains a 26-28 per cent reduction.

The global research body Climate Analytics looked at the question last year and found Australia should be making a 66% cut below 2005 levels by 2030 on the path to net zero by 2050.

So, I call Mr Morrison’s “fair share” claim a lie. He’s got a lot of work to do before Glasgow.

 

2.    He claims that Australia is “well on the way to meet and beat our Paris commitments”.

·     As evidence, he quotes emissions per capita. But the Paris Agreement is not written as emissions per capita, so this is irrelevant, and his very knowledgeable international audience knows this.

·    He quotes our emissions per unit of GDP, which again is irrelevant, and his audience knows this. One paragraph in, and they see what he is trying to do.

·    He claims, “Already we have reduced our emissions by 19 per cent on 2005 levels”. This is a lie, the correct figure from the Department’s own data set shows 16.6% down in December 2020 (helped by reduced transport during 2020 due to COVID19).

 

3.   He claims Australia has reduced emissions, “more than most other similar economies” and at the recent Business Council of Australia meeting, he specified Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Japan and the US. The following graph shows that Australia has been WORST at reducing CO2 emissions from fossil fuel.

This is a lie.

 

4.     Then Mr Morrison invents measures that no one uses by claiming Australia has reduced emissions “by 36% when you exclude exports”. Who in the international community excludes GHG generated in exporting fossil fuels from their GHG statistics? No one. It’s a Morrison invention that doesn’t count emissions from mining trucks/trains (all that iron ore and coal just moves magically emissions free). It also allows the government to ignore fugitive emissions from oil and gas which CSIRO estimates equals 6% of total Australia emissions.

      Technically, if you want to use this accounting method, you should add in the emissions generated making the stuff you import. If Morrison had done this, the figure would be 23%, but that wasn’t big enough for these scammers, so they left out the import figures and got the entirely fictional 36%.

      Here’s a graph. Green line shows actual GHG reduction, purple shows what the ‘consumption accounting’ method would be, and red line is ‘Morrison’s fiction’.

No one else tries to pull this trick. I’m calling this a lie, because it is a BIG distortion of facts, it is stupid, it doesn’t make sense, and it is embarrassing.

 

5.   He makes claims about Australia’s deployment of renewable energy, and yes, we’re doing well there.

 

6.   Then he says, “it is not a question of if or even by when for net zero, but importantly how.” So the government acknowledges the goal of net zero, but refuses to do any work on when that goal might be achieved. Do you know how this sounds to anyone in business, or to any of the international governments in the meeting?

     It is pure incompetence. Does his children’s school say, “we’ll teach your kids to read, but it doesn’t matter if we do it, or even by when we do it.”?

      He said this aloud to an international meeting of world leaders who understand the scientific advice that says emissions reduction is urgent.

 

7.   Now to the how. Mr Morrison says, “we are investing in priority new technology solutions, through our Technology Investment Roadmap initiative.” So, the government will pick winners. The government that has extolled market mechanisms for generations, isn’t going to use market mechanisms. This is a backflip of herculean proportions.

 

8.   Next he waxes lyrical about investing $20 billion into ‘clean’ hydrogen. This is a good idea. It would be great if the projects could be allocated on a transparent basis. The Morrison government is badly tarnished by ‘sportsrorts’ and contracts awarded without tender to obscure political donors. The disbursement of government money to hydrogen projects would need to be at arm’s length.

 

9.   Then he does a little ad for Australian mining companies. Really? It’s like a call out to sponsors. I call this amateurish and irrelevant at a summit about government action. Does Mr Morrison not realise the difference between government and private sector?

 

10. He mentions projects to ‘safeguard’ the Great Barrier Reef, protect oceans and ‘blue carbon’ which is about responding to climate change, not about trying to reduce it. So, I call that irrelevant.

 

11. He refers to $1.5 billion in climate finance focusing on Pacific neighbours. This sounds like it is new money, but it’s not. It is taken from our diminishing foreign aid budget. How much of this money will be used to reduce emissions? Nothing but reduced emissions will hold warming to less than 1.5C. He doesn’t say. Probably because he doesn’t know. I call this a questionable contribution to emissions reduction.

     Meanwhile Australia has ended its funding to the UN's Green Climate Fund, the body designed to allow rich nations help low-income countries deal with climate change and cut their emissions. This means Australia is not cooperating with international efforts, instead it is fudging its foreign aid budget. This is definitely poor policy, so the best we can say is it is incompetence, with potential for corruption.

 

12. I note that Mr Morrison made no comment about Australia’s Paris commitment which is to reduce GHG by 26-28% by 2030. Other countries are lifting their commitment to reduce emissions but Australia is sitting on its hands.

·     UK has committed to a legally binding reduction of 78% by 3035 on base year 1990.

·     US has committed to reduce by 50-52% by 2030 on base year 2005.

·     EU has committed to reduce by 55% by 2030 on base year 1990.

·     Japan has committed to reduce by 46% by 2030 on base year 2013.

Right at this point in time, Australia (and Canada –  30% reduction by 2030) are clearly lagging other advanced wealthy countries. This is nothing to be proud of, and shows mediocre and timid leadership.

 

Thanks to Ketan Joshi for graphs, analysis and insights.

Last day on the street

This week was our last day on the street at Lindfield. Every Tuesday for three months - not a bad effort. 

We spoke to hundreds of people, and got to know many people in our local community a lot better. We gave a voice to people who are worried by climate change and want the government to take stronger action. 

Many said they would think about what we said, many signed our petitions, and some came to stand with us. Thank you to everyone who has shown support.

COVID-19 is an immediate danger that needs attention, we respect that. But global heating is a much greater danger. And it is increasingly urgent. So now, we step back to allow a little space, but our determination to create a strong long-term future is undimmed.

On our last day, Nadine, a journalism student, approached us and asked if she could do her assignment on us. She has to write an article about something happening in her local area. Of course, we are the BEST thing happening in Bradfield! We'll update you with her article.

We know that COVID-19 is mesmerising, but we encourage you to continue to follow the news on climage policy. We're very heartened that the NSW government has spelt out plans for the next 10 years, to put it on the path to net zero emissions by 2050.

Lower emissions are the only vaccination for climate change.

Brian's Big Banner!

How good is this? Brian Peck visited our Tuesday Climate Action at Lindfield, bringing his BIG banner. Look at the size of it.

We had another encouraging day on the street. There were lots of good conversations as we handed out flyers encouraging people to contact Paul Fletcher to ask for stronger climate policy.

It has been a strong week on climate news this week, partly because the awesome Christina Figueres, architect of the Paris Agreement, is in Australia at present. She wrote an article for the Sydney Morning Herald where she is upfront - "Be Honest Australia, you are not 'meeting and beating' your emissions targets". She advocates for a very positive future without fossil fuels. 

It is time to move on from denial, delusion and delay towards preparedness, productivity and prosperity.

Her new book, "The Future We Choose", is available now. It's on my list!

Finally, here's a photo of schoolkids at Lindfield this week. On their way to school, they clowned around our "Honk for Climate Action" sign while waiting to cross the road. It was fun to see their glee at the honks they got.

This is the 'make or break' decade for a liveable planet. These kids will be young adults by the end of the decade. Their generation will carry the heaviest burden of the climate disasters to come. 

New Survey Shows Majority Support for Zero by 2050

Latest Guardian Essential Poll shows 75% of voters support a Zero Emissions by 2050 target. Support is also strong among Coalition voters, at 68%.

So, of course, we have added this to our messaging.

And we've added a new flyer.

This week we had some good conversations. Many people are very anxious about the impacts of climate change and worried by government inaction. They want to do more, and they want to encourage us to do more.

Over time, we are beginning to recognise familiar faces. One man said, "I have some ideas about this. I'll talk to you about it next week."

This is how things build. Reliability. Trust. Honesty.

Look at us now!

Since extra people joined us last week, we have ramped up our visibility.

Look at us now in our viz vests. We're hard to miss.

Jason brought his big colourful "boiling point" placard. 

I also came up with this Box Poster to add visibility to our messages.

I got four A2 posters printed to look like News Posters. They have factual messages from recent news items. I wanted to put them in the wire holders that newsagents use, but I couldn't figure out how to get some. I think they are provided by the newspaper companies. Then, when I was in Bunnings, I saw this cardboard packing chest and it looked just the right size.

It works perfectly. The four posters go on the four sides. It stands independently, and folds flat in a flash, so it's easy to carry.

Best of all, it attracted a lot of readers. People slowed down to read the headline. 

Now I have a new theory about communicating with pedestrians who are on their way somewhere. Most of them aren't in a mood to engage with Activists, so they studiously avoid a person holding a sign. But they're quite ready to read messages that look neutral and newsy. 

I'm going to experiment with NOT holding a sign. I'll hold a clipboard and some flyers to hand out. Every week, people see me with the clipboard and come to sign the petition. Many people who don't want to sign are willing to take a flyer. Our flyers call for Zero Emissions by 2050 and give contact details for people to phone or email our local MP, Paul Fletcher. 

Oh, and by the way, Paul Fletcher came past us on his way to his office. I said "Good Morning" and he studiously ignored us while he waited for the lights at the crossing. 

What can he do?

What can Paul Fletcher do? Politicians seem to be entirely constrained by the group-think of their political parties. 

Most of them vote the Party line. In fact, Paul Fletcher ALWAYS votes the Party line.

So what can he do?

He can do what other moderate Liberals are doing -- he can speak up for strong climate policies that reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. He can advocate for a policy of Zero Emissions by 2050.

Other North Shore Liberals are speaking up, and speaking up strongly. Trent Zimmerman and Matt Kean are very forthright about the need to reduce emissions, and Jason Falinski has supported them. 

Why does Paul Fletcher stay silent? 

We'll be asking him next Tuesday when we visit his office.