The bush fire Crisis has destroyed more than  2,204  homes,  killed at least 28 people,  injured fire fighters and the smoke is making us sick.   This is truly a CRISIS!

Picture complements The Guardian, 6th December 2019

The Morrison Government is not listening,  our fire chiefs have begged for more resources,  these fires are not like the fires of last century,  they are fuelled by 3 years of climate change drought, drying out the bush.   Our fire chiefs have asked urgently for more resources,  but they have been ignored.

Enough is Enough!

To  Mr Albanese - the leader of the Australian Labor party, The Greens and all independent members of the Australian Senate, we urge you to Block Supply in the Senate and force another Federal election to be held early to mid-2020 on the climate change issue.

In November 1975,  the Australian Senate blocked supply in order to force an election,  to oust an unpopular Government,  this was purely a political act and is known as The “1975 Australian constitutional crisis”, also known simply as the Dismissal, it has been described as the greatest political and constitutional crisis in Australian history.

Since then the thought of Blocking Supply in the Senate has been shunned,  however we are facing a CLIMATE EMERGENCY and urgent emergency action is required,  we cannot wait another 2 years,  meaningful and decisive action on climate change needs to be made NOW!

We face the greatest crisis the modern world has known and our leaders are sitting on their hands.

Whilst Climate change was an important issue in the election in May 2019,  many voters may have decided on issues such as Franking credits and negative gearing.  These issues and some others should be left off the table for now until decisive action on climate change is taken.

I am sure many of us are sick and tired of elections,  but we need to bring the issue of Climate Change to the front and centre in the Australian Federal Government and holding another election in early to mid-2020 is the most decisive action. Blocking supply,  click here for more information.

The timing of the election will depend on the appropriation bill which may not be introduced until mid year.

It’s not just emissions reductions,  fighting climate change is also about mitigating it’s effects.

 

The Bush Fire Emergency

Mitigation climate change means beefing up investment in bush fire fighting equipment such as water bombing aircraft and other resources.   In April and May this year Mr Mullins (former NSW fire chief), wrote to Prime Minister Scott Morrison in April and again "immediately after" the May election, warning him of the coming bushfire season and requesting an urgent meeting to discuss funding for firefighting and action to address climate change.  But this was ignored and the meeting did not happen, click through the link above for more information.   Since then our fire chiefs have been on the lawns at Parliament house Canberra only to be ignored.

More than 600 homes have been destroyed since in what has been described as an unprecedented bush fire emergency.  One has to wonder how many homes could have been saved if the PM had taken notice in April/May and more water bomber air craft had been leased from the Northern hemisphere ahead of the disaster.

This failure to act on the fore-warned bush fire disaster is an indictment on this Governments lack of action and duty of care to the Australian people.

Summer has only just started and the experts are predicting a hot dry summer,  the air above Antarctica is suddenly getting warmer in a phenomenon called 'sudden stratospheric warming'.

This could mean the worst is yet to come.  We need a substantial boost to fire fighting funding including the leasing of more water bombing air craft NOW!

This is not going to happen whilst the Morrison Government is in denial and Pray for rain.

Praying for Rain might not work!

It’s only natural to expect rain to end a drought,   but what if this is NOT a drought?

What if this is now the new norm?   What if hot and dry conditions are here to stay and get worse,  is the Government going to take action or are they just going to sit on their hands.

In a few months towns and cities are going to start running out of water,  drought breaking rain is not going to come,  because it is not a drought!

For those that are old enough,   it is so obvious that the climate has changed here in Australia yet our Government policies are stuck in the 1980’s.

Climate Change is a Crisis!

Can we afford to wait another 2 years before decisive action is taken to mitigate and fight climate change including substantial increases in bush firefighting funding, new dams, pipping, bore holes and water treatment plants to keep towns and cities from running out of water.  

A Crisis of this magnitude demands strong action - We need our Senate to act now and force another election early in 2020.   Blocking Supply may be seen as a drastic action,   but a crisis calls for drastic action!

The Morrison Government is ignoring the will of the People

In October a partition was presented to parliament to Declare a climate emergency,   this partition was addressed to Scott Morrison but he would not even accept it and it had to be given to the Greens.   Victorian Greens MP Adam Bandt brought on a vote in the lower house but the Morrison Government voted down the bill.  The petition with 370,000 signatures broke records for Australia, clearly Australian’s care about climate change.

This year PM Morrison visited Pacific Island Nations facing the brunt of climate change in the form of rising sea levels,  but despite being urged by leaders to commit to meaningful action on climate change he only offered to divert funds from existing aid programs, and is not additional support for the region.

This year in September PM Morrison visited New York for the UN Climate Summit,   but was absent while he socialised with President Trump.

To Quote –

Richie Merzian from the Australia Institute said Australia had further damaged its relationship to its Pacific neighbours.

"Prime Minister Morrison's complete absence from such a crucial global meeting has been noted by many, especially Australia's neighbours in the Pacific, with the Fijian PM going so far as registering it as an insult," he said.

Read the complete article here.

Australia's absence a 'national embarrassment and Australia has drawn criticism from the U.N and the international community for it’s failure to cut emissions.

Greta At COP25

To Quote Greta -  “ I still believe that the biggest danger is not inaction, the real danger is when politicians and CEOs are making it look like real action is happening when in fact almost nothing is being done apart from clever accounting and creative PR”. Click here for video.

The U.N has called for Urgent Action to Combat Climate Change and it’s Impacts, read more…

The Morrison Federal Government has done little more than pretend to take action,  the only way we will get URGENT ACTION is to vote in a new Government,  this cannot wait and needs to happen urgently,  blocking supply is the answer!

So, What Decisive action can be taken on Climate change? 

During the election Labor talked about the electrification of our transport systems,  (electric cars) and a target of 50% renewable energy by 2030.   But a lot more could be done.

Morrison has mentioned that Australia emits only 1.3% of global CO2 and has indicated that emissions reductions are not a high priority, this is entirely the wrong attitude...  Yes Climate Change is a global problem and should be thought of on a global level. 

Here is another figure “1/6th”.

Australia is the 6th largest country in the World as far as land mass.  Therefore we carry the 1/6th largest responsibility to fight Climate Change.  The UN has said that cutting CO2 emissions alone is not going to be enough,  we need to take carbon out of the atmosphere.

In 2017 Pakistan reached it’s goal of Planting 1 Billion trees in what has been called a massive reforestation project.  Australian is 10 times the land mass of Pakistan so we should  set the goal of planting 10 Billion trees in the next 3 years.  Trees absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), emit Oxygen (which we breath) and lock up the carbon.

I flew over Pakistan many years ago and looked out of the window,  it was desert as far as the eye could see.   Australia is also mostly desert,  especially WA and SA, these are the areas that should be of prime interest for tree planting.  Hand in hand with tree planting, we should be providing irrigation infrastructure such as bore holes, new dams, pipelines and water treatment plants,  plus solar and wind farms to power the water treatment plants.   Yes the cost of massive infrastructure is “Massive”.   But to quote some words from Greta Thunberg – “The money is there – if we can save the banks we can save the world”.

Australia should not have to pay for this project alone,   we should ask the global community to share the cost of this project,  not in the form of loans,  but grants.

At the same time we should be helping farmers by providing some of this infrastructure to irrigate crops and grow fodder.

This scale of infrastructure investment will create jobs, grow industries and train work forces.

There is so much more that we can do and the answers are there!  Please listen to the scientists.

Here are a few examples –

·         Declare a Climate Emergency and encourage all state,  territory and local government to follow suit.   This may be seen as a symbolic gesture,   but it will lead to a change of mindset throughout Australia that will result in action and better decisions being made on climate change.

·         Boost sustainable farming practises that make better use of the land and reduce animal CO2 emissions.

·         Fast track the electrification of our transport system – it’s going to happen anyway,  why not give it a helping hand,  start by building electric car recharging stations,  encourage car companies to bring electric cars to Australia,  currently the range of electric cars is severely limited in Australia.  Encourage investment in rare Earths mining and refinement, battery manufacturing in Australia, currently South Australia is the only state with meaningful policies in this respect.   Australia currently lags the world on electric cars.

·         Set a zero emissions target for 2050 (sooner would be better).

·         Improve building standards for residential houses and commercial buildings,  to reduce heating and cooling costs and therefore reduce CO2 emissions buildings need to be better insulated and all new houses should have mandatory solar panels installed, with some rare exceptions such as shading. Retrofit existing houses with improved insulation.

·         Increase investment in solar and wind farms to hasten the transition to clean energy.

·         End the subsidies on the fossil fuel industries.  Each year the government gives the fossil fuel industry some of your tax money in the form of subsidies and tax breaks.

·         Push the U.N and the international community to sanction countries that do not meet climate change targets and/or are destroying or burning native forests,  such as Brazil for burning the Amazon,  Indonesia for their deforestation etc.   Australia should be sanctioned.

·         Other things that could be considered such as halting approval of all new coal mines,  re-introducing carbon trading,  it was a mistake to abolish it ten years ago.  Re-Nationalise the power grid,  it was a mistake to sell the grid off in NSW and other states.

There are so many more things that can be done,   but not much is going to be done by this Government and we cannot afford to wait.  So please sign this partition and let’s elect representatives of the people who will take URGENT & DECISIVE ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE!

This partition has been lodged by a single individual with no ties to any political party or political group,  an ordinary person with a family living in the outer suburbs in Sydney,  with a big mortgage and a special needs child among 3.

Please help support this partition by sharing and promoting it.