Dear Santa,
I’m belatedly writing to you in the dregs of the festive season because I didn’t get the present I wanted this past Christmas. I made a New Year’s wish but I’m as far from hopeful as ex-Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s bowling was from the designated strip that serves as a cricket pitch. I didn’t know who else to ask given the current apathy of the Australian powers that be, so I thought an imaginary bearded and costumed old man who rides a giant airborne sleigh pulled by hitherto exclusively ground based animals and who clambers down people’s chimneys once a year without repercussion from the authorities would be as good as any.
Please Santa, don’t mistake me for a spoilt brat. I know this request is out of business hours but I simply cannot wait until next Christmas. Just read on and you will understand it’s not a new gaming console I’m after but something far more important. Yes, my belated wish will seem like a giant knee-jerk reaction to what’s going on in the world Santa and it is, because unfortunately, our current Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, doesn’t know much about what’s going on in the world or is very good at pretending he doesn’t. He declared shortly before last Christmas that his carbon tax repeal has been the top achievement in his capacity as Minister for Women.
In November last year, USA, the very country Australia seems to be sadly trying to emulate for some of their more negative qualities, went and blindsided Mr. Abbott in making an encouraging, though seemingly modest carbon emissions reduction agreement with China, “a country Australia has constantly attacked as a ‘blocker’ even though Australia’s climate targets based on history and capacity is far worse”, said Alex Rafalowicz, from the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, at the Cumbre de Los Pueblos in Lima, Peru on December 9 last year.
The Cumbre de Los Pueblos, or “The People’s Summit” in English, was an alternative Climate Summit that ran parallel to the COP20 (Conference of the Parties) in Lima this past December. Rafalowicz also pointed out Australia’s role in “the spread of disinformation” in relation to the climate issue as well.
The Cumbre de Los Pueblos ‘World March in Defense of Mother Earth’ on December 10, 2014, in Lima, Peru.
As The Age’s Mark Kenny described Tony Abbott’s “feet of clay” upon the USA-China agreement, it’s hard not to imagine poor Tony with hammer and chisel, desperately trying to extricate himself while simultaneously trying to run after Barack Obama like a silly, impressionable school kid who acts first and thinks later. Much later. In fact, we are still waiting for Abbott to start thinking, the only possible explanation being that he must be in some sort of waking dream, hence his seemingly happy disregard for the existence of repercussions.
Abbott’s detachment from reality was quite specifically pointed out by Queensland Greens Senator Larissa Waters after Mr. Abbott gushingly opened a new $3.9b coal mine in Queensland in October last year.
“While our Prime Minister continues to ignore reality, Australians understand coal is threatening our very way of life and our planet, with global warming, sea level rise and acidification and more extreme weather events,” said Waters.
However, while forming a slight majority, a Fairfax Ipsos poll on December 8 last year reflected that only “57 per cent of Australian adults say the federal government is doing “too little” to deal with climate change,” suggesting there is still some way to go until Australians reach a consensual understanding of the massive problem we face environmentally, as well as the economic repercussions.
One possible and highly disheartening explanation for our government’s wilful ignorance and inaction is that “Australia sees climate leadership as a sucker’s game and climate laggardship as the smart way to operate because it believes that fossil fuels are here to stay,” wrote Professor Robyn Eckersley on December 12 in Crikey.
“These are very unsafe assumptions that risk not only Australia’s international reputation but also its long-term prosperity. If only Australia would look over the horizon and see what is coming: either dangerous climate change, for which we are poorly prepared, or a world that will become increasingly disinclined to buy our fossil fuel exports, which will leave us economically stranded,” Professor Eckersley continued.
What’s more embarrassing for Australians is that soon after the USA-China agreement, we then suffered the indignity of another leader coming to our country and pointing out the obvious, when Barrack Obama visited the University of Queensland and spoke about the obvious threat to “our” iconic Great Barrier Reef that climate change presents. For a country that typically rallies around the people and places that make us great, this is particularly worrying.
Santa, even if Tony Abbott doesn’t care about the environment, which seems to unequivocally be the case, surely he can understand from a touristic and therefore economic perspective it is in our best interests to preserve one of Australia’s most magical places, not to mention home to a wide diversity of life. We know Abbott thinks coal is a sustainable Christmas present for generations to come after he declared “coal is good for humanity, coal is good for prosperity, coal is an essential part of our economic future,” and will undoubtedly still be licking the residue from his blackened fingers after digging into his dirty stocking this Christmas past. But do Australian children prefer getting coal in their Christmas stockings or a ticket to the Great Barrier Reef?
Equally disturbing were Abbott’s comments at the Queensland coalmine opening last October that “the mine is going to contribute some $30 million to the local economy so it’s much better for the local economy that we have this mine.”
As Professor Eckersley pointed out, continued investment in fossil fuels will leave Australia economically stranded as the world moves to cleaner technology and other economies and environments start to fail because of the knock on effects of increased temperatures and the world burning up, a point completely lost on our Prime Minister. Only recently, Mr. Abbott was refusing to contribute to the Green Climate Fund on our behalf as he waxed lyrical about the sustainable virtues of coal that only he is aware of.
“It was not certain that Australia would pledge any meaningful emissions cuts beyond 2020,” wrote Frank Jotzo, Director at the Centre for Climate Economics and Policy at the Australian National University, on December 14 last year in The Conversation AU, a few days after the Australian government had rebadged $200 million from the Foreign Aid Budget to the Green Climate Fund on December 9.
“No doubt it (the Australian Government) has been stung by international criticism,” wrote Marcus Priest in The Age on December 15, illustrating the reactive and self-serving, rather than proactive role our government is taking on the climate issue.
Abbott’s response: “We’ve seen things develop over the last few months,” once again displaying his complete disregard for reality and astonishing lack of knowledge when it comes to the history of climate change, which extends beyond “the last few months”.
The fact that Australia’s contribution is rebadged money from the Foreign Aid Budget was described as “callous” by Peter Burdon, a Senior Lecturer at University of Adelaide, and means that Australia is essentially not contributing any more to international aid than they already were.
“In other words, no new money will be allocated to help developing countries that are currently suffering the effects of climate change,” wrote Burdon, in The Conversation AU on December 10 of last year.
“This is robbing Peter to pay Paul,” said Australian Greens leader Christine Milne, “The Green Climate Fund contribution should be on top of Australia’s overseas aid contribution, not a substitute for it.”
In other words, the reality is that Australia, with all its wealth and resources, is operating somewhat shamefully and unjustifiably as an Indian giver. As Burdon pointed out, the fact that no new money is being allocated is particularly distressing when you look at the recent disasters in countries like Indonesia who don’t have the capacity to deal with these problems, while our government moves under par contributions around out of media self-interest.
“In light of the havoc currently being wrought by Typhoon Hagupit (Ruby) in the Philippines, this is a particularly callous decision,” wrote Burdon, “Countries like the Philippines do not have the luxury of playing politics with climate finance.”
Burdon continued by pointing out the tearful opening statement of Naderev “Yeb” Saño, leader of the Philippines Climate Change Commission, at the opening session of the 2013 UN climate summit in Warsaw, in which he pleaded:
“If not us, then who? If not now, then when? If not here in Warsaw, where? What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness. The climate crisis is madness. We can stop this madness.”
During the COP20, I witnessed similar emotional events unfold as a Pilipino native addressed a climate meeting at Casa Activa, a temporary activist house near Lima’s city centre, almost crying in distress because of what is occurring in her country and the complete futility of lobbying the current system.
Casa Activa, near Lima’s city centre.
The meeting at Casa Activa, in which a Pilipino native almost cried in distress while addressing the audience, because of what is occurring in her country and the complete futility of lobbying the current system.
“I’m embarrassed to be Australian,” said Alex Rafalowicz when I questioned him at the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice discussion at the Cumbre de Los Pueblos a few days later. It’s a sentiment that’s hard not to share, when our great country seems so obsessed by money and self-service that it closes its heart to the rest of the world.
“They (Australia) just don’t care, it’s amazing,” said Klever Descarpontriez, from earthinbrackets.org at the same Cumbre de Los Pueblos meeting. Ironically, this occurred only a few hours before Australia’s under par, “callous”, PR friendly but inane rebadged financial contribution to the Green Climate Fund. In light of the recent international criticism Australia had suffered, this was also a cunningly timed contribution for those who didn’t scratch beneath the surface.
“Australia’s modest contribution of $200 million was the final one that brought the fund over the much desired $10 billion mark (on top of, for example, Japan’s US$1.5 billion). Thank you, Australia, for providing the last straw,” wrote Professor Eckersley on December 12.
To further highlight Australia’s embarrassing policies, Marcus Priest reported in The Age on December 14 that during the COP20 in Lima “a reference to developed countries paying poor nations for “loss and damage” caused by climate change was also included despite strong opposition from Australia and the US.”
Combined with Australia’s petty rebadged contribution and history of inaction, Australia’s negative role in and beyond Lima shows Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s comments that “we are taking action, we are delivering on our commitments and we are more than playing our part,” and “it’s (Australia’s) actions were comparable with those of other developed countries” to be irresponsible, offensive and no more than lip service.
“Put simply, the size of Australia’s contribution to the fund does not suggest that the government accepts the moral argument of ‘climate debt’, or that it is willing to put its neighbours’ well-being ahead of its own short-term political gain,” wrote Burdon.
At least Abbott got one thing right in describing Australia’s contribution to the climate mitigation fund as “modest”. However, Australia’s contribution is certainly not the “proportionate commitment” Abbott describes it as because aside from it being rebadged money, it is completely disproportionate when you look at the moral obligation a developed, extremely rich and well-resourced country like Australia has. Not to mentioned a country with the highest per capita emissions rate of greenhouse gases whose rapid industrialisation now means developing countries must carry the burden of reducing emissions while also fighting their own developmental problems. Furthermore, in the quest for keeping the climate below 2C, Australia is one of two developed countries, along with Canada, whose emissions are actually still rising.
As Lleyton Hewitt used to scream – “C’MON!!!!”
While Burdon pointed out that climate debt is financially complex, he also wrote that it is morally simple. He cited the comments of Justin Lin, former chief economist at the World Bank:
“Developing countries, which have historically contributed little to global warming, are now, ironically, faced with 75 to 80 percent of the potential damage from it. They need help to cope with climate change, as they are preoccupied with existing challenges such as reducing poverty and hunger and providing access to energy and water,” said Lim in 2009.
2009.
Speaking at the same Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice discussion as Rafalowicz and Descarpontriez, Sivan Kartha, Ph.D, Senior Scientist at the Stockholm Environment Institute, said an unfair responsibility falls on developing countries as “they would have to reduce emissions more drastically due to their recent growth.”
Sivan Kartha speaks at the Global Campaign to Demand Climate Justice, during the Cumbre de Los Pueblos in Lima.
“Therefore, most mitigation efforts to reduce carbon emissions will have to happen in developing countries, yet most of the fault and means to deal with it is in developed countries,” said Kartha.
There must be some sort of cooperation between developed and developing countries, a responsibility Australia seems unwilling to accept based on their hollow contribution, history of inaction, baffling climate policies and negative role in climate negotiations. This is because, for one, Australia’s reallocated contribution itself, aside from being taken from the Foreign Aid Budget, doesn’t even meet the minimum $350 million fair contribution, recommended by the Climate Institute’s Erwin Jackson, that Australia should provide as one of the richest countries and the largest emitter of greenhouse gases per capita, as reported in the latest OECD Greenhouse Gas Emissions Index.
Oxfam said Australia’s contribution could only be called a “first step,” although judging by Julie Bishop’s comments she, at least publically, feels Australia can sit on its hands a little while longer.
That’s not to mention that Australia’s contribution, despite more wealth and higher per capita emissions, is even lower than the US 2025 pledge “which is not a sufficient contribution to a global outcome of keeping warming below 2C,” wrote Jotzo in The Conversation AU.
To contextualise the immediate seriousness of the situation and the severe danger of these modest commitments by developed countries such as Australia and the USA, Sivan Kartha said that “with a medium carbon phase out – say five years from now, there is a 50/50 chance warming could stay below 2C and definitely not below 1.5C.”
However, with a slow carbon phase out that looks far more likely with the lack of real progress ahead of Paris 2015, “there is only a small chance we can keep the climate at 2C, but there is a chance to surpass 3C also,” said Kartha.
This detail to a seemingly errant handful of degrees is extremely important as Kartha also pointed out that 10,000 years ago in the Ice Age, the temperature was only 4-5 degrees colder. Since the temperature has risen those few degrees, the globe has changed drastically.
“Should we fight hard over a few degrees? Yes, because it is fighting to prevent the opposite of an Ice Age,” said Kartha in Lima, in December last year.
Basically, we need drastic action now to achieve this 1.5-2C target otherwise it is completely and totally a fool’s dream.
Santa, don’t get me wrong, I love Australia for the endless opportunities of education, work, travel possibilities and lifestyle among other things. I have never wanted for anything, except maybe not having Lord Voldemort’s hitherto unknown twin brother as Prime Minister, but I think that book got lost somewhere between J.K Rowling’s pen, your sleigh and my stocking a few Christmases ago. Furthermore, one of the best things about our quality of living in Australia is that we have the opportunities to make mistakes and then learn from them but time is running out isn’t it Santa, the North Pole isn’t the same as it used to be?
As the secular middle class state Australia has quickly transformed into, maintaining this more than comfortable status quo at the cost of Australia waking up and using its endless resources to act as a world leader is embarrassing. Kind of like when our Prime Minister told the media he was going to shirtfront the Russian president (“a fierce tackle, usually delivered by the shoulder to the chest of an opponent”) while opening a new coal mine in October last year, a scenario John Cleese would have been proud of in his Monty Python heydays.
Santa, it’s time to wake the Prime Minister up so he can look at what’s happening beyond the end of his speedos and Gina Rinehart’s wrist.
It was inspiring but embarrassing to see ordinary people from far poorer, less resourced countries like Bolivia and Peru, and the eclectic mix of world citizens who used their time to mobilise far more effectively on the climate issue in Lima than our Prime Minister, who with far more resources, ludicrously did his very best (and failed) to keep climate change off the agenda at the recent G20 summit we hosted last year. It’s embarrassing for Australians to have to watch developing countries suffering and having to shoulder the load of a problem we as part of a group of developed countries, largely created. It’s painful to hear the pleas of people from these countries when I know my country won’t help, even though it is well within Australia’s power to do so.
Climate activists at Casa Activa preparing the night before the World March in Defense of Mother Earth.
Please Santa, my speculative and ambitious wish for 2015 is that you wake up Tony Abbott and any other Australians still dreaming this insular, middle class utopian dream so our country can become the conscientious and proactive world leader it should be. It’s time to stop being embarrassed to be Australian and our government has everything it needs to change this in the New Year. Otherwise there might not be many more.
On a final note Santa, I hope you don’t lose your job, your home doesn’t melt, then flood, leaving you without any food or shelter. Don’t worry though, if this happens, you can always take a boat here.
Yours Sincerely,
Australia.
Tony Abbott Image: Courtesy Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia | Wikimedia Commons (© Global Panorama)