As someone who takes a keen interest in federal politics, my ears pricked up when I heard that Mr Tony Abbott, Leader of the Opposition, was coming to Tamworth. I have always wanted to hear Mr Abbott speak in person, unfiltered by the media or his minders and so was pleased when I received an invitation to this event.
Advertised as a ‘community forum’, the gathering consisted of 160 people who RSVPed from a ‘random selection’ of 1000 names. Given this, I was a little surprised by the turnout. If a genuinely random sample of the population, it must be surmised that Tamworth is almost entirely populated by retirement villages and bingo halls; I counted three people who I could confidently say were under 45 years old.
The forum was hosted by state senator Mr John Williams, with federal senator Mr Barnaby Joyce and Mr Abbott MHR as his guests. It wasn’t clear to me until the end of the night why Senator Joyce was present, when Mr Abbott closed by stating that he hoped to see Senator Joyce contesting the seat of New England in the next federal election.
All three men gave speeches that returned again and again to the impact of the carbon price on electricity bills. There was little mention of the carbon price’s true aim; to gradually reduce Australia’s carbon dioxide emissions to avoid extreme climate change.
As someone who will see these changes in their lifetime, I wanted to know more about how the Coalition’s alternative legislation – the Direct Action Policy would achieve long-term ‘decarbonising’ of the economy.
When the forum was given over to questions from the audience, I asked Mr Abbott and Joyce how does the Coalition’s Direct Action Policy get Australia to an 80 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050? This is the target our current government has agreed to, following in the footsteps of countries like the United Kingdom and Germany (an 80 per cent reduction is considered a conservative goal to limit global temperature rises to two degrees Celsius).
Disappointingly, Mr Abbott replied that the Coalition was not committed to the 80 per cent target, but did not specify what their target would be beyond a five per cent reduction by 2020. Mr Joyce then added that Australia’s emissions were last that low in 1910, and that he for one did not intend to come to meetings like tonight’s in a horse and sulky or by bicycle.
Fantastic. While Germany and the United Kingdom look on such targets as a means of revolutionising their economies and driving innovation in new technologies, the man who might be our next MP sees it as a return to 1910. Where is the long-term vision, considered opinion and lack of self-interest that are the hallmarks of a good politician? There wasn’t much of it in evidence that night.
Still, I guess it doesn’t matter. I’ll just go dig out my kerosene lamps, dust off the Coolgardie safe and wait for the lights to go out.
Hadley White
