Last year I wrote three letters to the Prime Minister urging him and his government to get serious about climate change (you can read them here, here, and here). Then we had some bushfires. Unprecedented, nation-defining fires in all six States and the ACT.
Surely after this we couldn't keep going with business as usual? Well apparently, to all intents and purposes we still might. So I wrote another letter. I've been agonising over this one for more than a month. How do you say to the leader of your country, a very publicly practicing Christian, in the politest terms possible that it is time to repent? Anyhow, this week I finally finished it and popped it in the mail.
Bearing in mind that there is a heated internal debate in the Coalition on this subject, and also that Scomo's office is stacked to the rafters with coal industry stooges, I also sent copies to all the Queensland LNP Senators, as well as to my local (Labor) member to whom I have sent all the previous ones. This is what I said to them.
Dear Senators and member
Since the election in May I have written a number of letters to the Prime Minister urging him, and through him our Government, to step up on climate change. Our recent bushfires have illustrated for us just how urgent this step-up is. My personal interest in this is that as grandfather of two little boys, I fear for their futures and want us to leave them a planet which is livable and beautiful as I have experienced through my life.
In the light of the current debate within the government about this subject, I thought that I would send my latest letter to all the government members who represent me – that is to say all the LNP Senators for Queensland, as well as copying in my local member Graham Perrett. In this letter I once again urge the Prime Minister to act on adaptation, on emissions reduction and on Australia’s stance in global climate negotiations.
As the Prime Minister and I share the Christian faith, I have couched parts of this correspondence in terms of that faith. For those of you who are not people of faith, some of this language may seem strange and I am not seeking to convert you. I think the political message is clear and applicable whatever your personal worldview.
I would urge you to approach the debates within the party room and in public constructively, acknowledging the science of climate change and the real risks this poses to Australia and the world. It is time for us to stop delaying and act.
Yours sincerely
Jon
Here's the letter.
Dear Prime Minister
Like you and all
Australians, I have been horrified by the bushfire crisis that has unfolded
over the past autumn and summer. I am
fortunate to not have been affected personally aside from breathing a little
smoke, but people I know have been at risk and others are on the front-lines
providing support to people who have had to flee affected areas.
Also like you, I have
been praying for the safety of the communities and people affected and the
fire-fighters on the front-line, and for the rain we desperately need both to
douse the fires and to end the drought. I
am thankful for the rain that has now come and that, at least for the moment,
the fires are under control.
However, I pray these
prayers with a heavy heart, because I know we don’t have any right to expect
God to protect us from the consequences of our own sin. The climate change which sits behind the
severity of this drought and these fires is a result of our greed and our
heedlessness of God’s good creation.
Instead of being good stewards we are wasting what God gave us, and now
we are starting to see the consequences.
God is calling us to
repentance, each of us individually and all of us collectively. Individually there are things each of us can
do – being more mindful of our choices in consumption, transport, energy
production and consumption, diet and so forth.
However, since the big drivers of environmental damage are collective –
power generation, transport systems, industrial production and land management
– we also need a collective response and this is why we look to you as the
leader of our government.
Repentance is just as
relevant to governments as it is to individuals. In the past 30 years, our governments have
treated warnings of climate damage lightly, delaying action both at home and
internationally. The current fires are
the clearest warning yet – a message from God and from God’s good creation –
that we need to change this, and to start taking the warnings seriously.
I have written to you
on this subject before, but let me reiterate what I believe repentance will
look like on this matter.
Firstly, we need to
take the warnings of the consequences of climate change seriously. We were warned of our increased bushfire risk
many times – over the long term, by the Garnaut Report and the IPCC as far back
as 2008 and before; more immediately, by fire chiefs warning us throughout 2019
that this summer would see heightened risks.
Yet when the predicted fires came we were unready. We had not acted on the request of fire
authorities for more water bombing planes.
We had a Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy in the works but
action on it was moving at glacial pace.
We did not have a contingency plan for when the fires came. Hence, when they hit your government was
caught on the hop.
We need to acknowledge
the error, express our sorrow for this and learn to do better, to pay more
attention and to be more ready for this and other climate related events next
time they come. It’s heartening that you
seem to have got this message, and I await with interest the details of your
improved plans.
Secondly, we need to
decarbonise our economy as rapidly as possible, to make our national
contribution to efforts to slow climate change.
Recent events show us that whether or not we have a formal carbon
pricing scheme, emitting carbon comes at a cost. At present, we are shielding emitters from
this cost while asking others to bear it – including farmers and rural
communities affected by drought, the many communities on the East coast and
hinterland who have suffered bushfire damage, and as a flow-on all of us
through our taxes, charitable donations and increased insurance premiums.
To ensure that this
cost stays within reasonable bounds we need to address our carbon emissions as
a nation, and as a planet. For our
nation, this involves three things.
- We need to get serious about meeting our current targets, forgoing the use of accounting tricks and rhetoric and actually acting so that the curve goes down.
- We need to increase our ambition, seeking to make the deeper cuts to emissions across electricity generation, transport, industry and land use. We know our current targets are insufficient to the challenge and we need to move faster.
- In light of this, we also need to set a long term target, in line with the Paris Agreement, to get to net zero emissions by 2050, or sooner.
As you and your
colleagues are well aware, this means phasing out our coal industry, both
domestically and for export. I am also
well aware that this is challenging because coal mining currently employs around
50,000 people, many of them in regional Australia. These people are ordinary Australians and
they need to earn their living. Yet
their continuing to earn their living through coal extraction comes at huge
cost to the rest of us. This is why we
need to begin work now on a just and orderly transition for these workers and
communities, knowing that we will be phasing out this industry over a number of
decades. Since coal is not a viable
energy source in the long term it is foolish for us to live in a fool’s
paradise for a while, only for their jobs to shut down suddenly in the future
with no plan for their replacement.
I am heartened by the
fact that many members of your government have got the message that we need to
do more in this regard, and that this is now an open debate in your government
once again. My hope and prayer is that
this time good sense will prevail, and we will come out of the debate with a
positive set of policy settings which move us towards real emissions
reductions.
Finally, as you have
pointed out clearly over the past year, climate change is a global issue and
Australia can’t solve it alone. Hence,
if we are to make our contribution to minimising climate change, we need to be
active on the global stage, using our diplomatic leverage to shift our allies
and trading partners to make real progress on the Paris agreement.
This also is a
question of repentance. It was
disheartening that in December of last year, as the fires were heating up in
NSW and Victoria and with severe damage already in Queensland, our delegation
to COP25 in Madrid was obstructing agreement on various key aspects of the
Paris agreement rather than actively working to move the agreement
forward. This comes on the back of your
own decision not to attend the UN Climate Summit in New York earlier in the
year, despite being in the city at the time.
COP26 in Scotland will
be a good opportunity for Australia to reset its engagement with the Paris Accords
by going to the talks with goals to increase the ambition of our emissions
targets and a willingness to work collaboratively with other nations that are
doing the same.
This summer’s
bushfires have been a clear warning to Australians and to our friends around
the globe as to the dangers of climate change.
We shouldn’t let this be our only contribution. Australia has a lot to contribute to the
global effort to reduce emissions and avoid the worst of climate change. We have the resources and technology to
become a renewable energy powerhouse, generating energy for ourselves and our
neighbours. We have the potential to be
at the forefront of adaptation in agriculture, land management and urban
design, and to lead the way in sustainable transport systems and power
generation. We also have strong
diplomatic, security and trading relations with some of the world’s biggest emitters,
including China, the US and Japan, and our diplomatic efforts can help to shift
them in the right direction.
But all of this will
take a change of course on the part of your government. Such a change would not be weakness or
betrayal, it would be a keeping of your promise to govern well for all
Australians. I pray that you will have
the courage to follow through and deliver for us.
Yours sincerely
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