The Abbott-oir survives another day to wreak more environmental havoc

9 02 2015

The Great Red UnderpantsTone Abbott-oir, easily the most environmentally destructive Prime Minister this country has seen in the modern era, has survived the party room spill for a leadership change. Although 39% of his own Fiberal Party MPs voted to dump him, he remains standing (limping) – for now.

I’ve seen rather a lot lately in the Australian media about the impending spill vote, and the potential political repercussions of a change (or not), but there’s been nearly no mention of what it all means for the continually degrading Australian environment.

As is typical in Australian politics, the environment takes a very distant back seat to the those oh-so-important societal issues like knighthoods, paid parental leave and where to put the next road in Melbourne, so I certainly wasn’t hopeful that a leadership change (or not) would have any positive environmental outcomes. This particular latte-snorting, quinoa-flavoured-pinot-grigio-in-the-artisanal-underpants-pouring, erect-nipple-paper-rubbing environmental scientist has nothing at all to celebrate, even if the no-confidence in The Great Red Underpants is potentially a positive sign. Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : Australia, biodiversity, carbon, climate change, conservation, corruption, ecology, economics, ecosystem services, environmental policy, protected area, reserve, threatened species

The environmental Abbott-oir

9 04 2014

“What?”, my wife exclaimed, “Is this guy Satan1 himself?”. Within 6 months in office, the Abbott-oir has:

  • attempted to remote World Heritage protection for a large expanse of Tasmanian forest;
  • vowed to reinstate logging in Tasmania on a large scale;
  • broken promise to fund Sumatran rhino recovery;
  • decided to dump 3 million tonnes of dredging spoil on the Great Barrier Reef;
  • scrapped management plans for most of the nation’s representative system of marine protected areas;
  • rollbacked protection in national parks, including allowing logging, grazing, fishing and hunting;
  • refused to send any Australian delegate to global climate change discussions;
  • allowed Western Australia to proceed with a large-scale cull of great white, tiger and bull sharks;
  • weakened Australia’s recently passed anti-illegal logging bill;
  • nearly achieved legal immunity from any challenges to his decisions on mining projects;
  • weakened the processes involved in development proposals by ‘cutting the green tape‘;
  • vowed to halt the creation of any more national parks, saying that Australia already has too many;
  • proposed to ban consumer boycotts of corporations that damage the environment;
  • cut $100 million in funding, and axed 500 jobs, in the federal Environment department;
  • continued to push for abolishing the carbon price.

Cry? Despair? Laugh? No – fight.

Abbott cartoon 5503

Read the rest of this entry »


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Categories : conservation