Few MPs would have worked harder to defend their seats at this election than Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull, whose blue ribbon Sydney seat of Wentworth is under siege not just from Labor but a range of environmental activists, mostly coalescing around the Greens.
But in the second week of the campaign, Mr Turnbull found the time to announce that the Government, already in caretaker mode, would bankroll to the tune of $10 million the investigation of an untried Russian technology that aims to trigger rainfall from the atmosphere, even when there are no clouds.
ABC News: ‘Turnbull pumps $10m into rainmaking gamble’
From the deck of the research ship Weatherbird II, a California company hopes to prove a controversial theory that putting iron dust in the ocean can produce enough plankton to help save the Earth.
The mission of the company behind the ship, Planktos Corp, is to research whether “iron seeding,” or “iron enrichment” – dumping tons of pulverised iron ore into the ocean – can catalyse the growth of microscopic algae that will then suck carbon out of the atmosphere.
ABC News: ‘Iron touted as tonic for climate-saving plankton’
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says Australia will be pushing for a declaration on climate change at a meeting of Asian nations in Singapore.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Ha ha ha ha ha….
Luke has found a new venue for his stream of consciousness.
LukeNews RSS
Admirable sentiments but clearly divorced from reality;
“Greens leader Bob Brown has attacked environmental scientist Dr Tim Flannery for endorsing Coalition Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
In The Age newspaper today the Australian of the Year says he would vote for Mr Turnbull, and that Federal Parliament needs more people like him to tackle climate change.”
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22783391-601,00.html
Rog supports Turnbull investing $10M in a mega-wank !!! Try critical appraisal instead of cheer leading for once.
Luke, I must say a good idea but a very poor effort. Paul has been awfully kind to post your few scraps. Surely the big news in Australia is the election THIS SATURDAY and the upcoming UN meeting in Bali. There is also the drought …which is I guess why there is some enthusiasm for cloud seeding?
There was a BIG article in my Swedish paper on the Aussie elections on Saturday. The paper stated that the environment issues were very important.
Yes Ann. Luke is perhaps having us all on and taking advantage of the fact that Paul lives in the UK?
I don’t really wish to get involved in the pros & cons of the election – however, one of the reasons that I post here and elsewhere is to try to mitigate the excesses of the media by way of trying to instill a little bit of reason into the debates. Make people have a deeper think.
So, an observation if I may. It seems to me that none of the political parties is trying to win the mind of the voter. They are above all else trying to win over the media. If you listen to all the speeches in totality, you will see the same topical “warm-fuzzy” repeated over and over. I guess this is in the hope that one of the iterations will be judged good enough to make that 10 second vox-pop on the news, and that the media will then have to put context around it and so have to digest and regurgitate your key point (which is elaborated in the media handout) – and hopefully without too much distortion.
The media is given more and more sensational stories, more and more dirt just to get into that 10 second spot – and all at cost of a lost opportunity to provide real content (which frankly election platforms should be all about).
Frankly, I just want to know what will occur if a party has a mandate – so that I can make a judgement on how it will affect me, my family, my neighbourhood and environment – and vote accordingly. Even if you trawl through the websites of each party, real content is difficult to find.
Politics, (and not just those in Australia) is now the province of aparatchiks and party faithful that have little real life experience beyond a couple of year stint in a law firm or trade union office. I ask where are the seasoned doctors, engineers, educators and captains of industry in today’s parliaments? If they are there at all, they are a sad minority.
The end result is that the politicians then rely not on the wisdom and experience of the other elected ministers (i.e. the doctors educators etc), but on advice from a troop of up and comming aparatchiks. And you end up with somebody like Malcolm Turnbul (who should know better) giving credence to schemes such as Planktos and Russian fireworks because it is seen as being able to provide a bit of last minute political capital by way of a guaranteed ten second spot in the media and the appearance to be doing “something”.
And this is really sad to see. Food for thought.
“Luke is perhaps having us all on and taking advantage of the fact that Paul lives in the UK?”
??? Am I missing something here?
Yes and no, the coaltion have failed to fully capture the minds of the electorate, not because of bad policy but because they didnt sell themselves.
Paul Keating had chutzpah and sizzle and the press loved it – but his politics were crap
The Libs need to market themselves better instead of waiting for the ALP to stuff it up, which they invariably do.
Jen off the high horse – I merely sent Paul a few web links on Aussie news action – no commentary – he editorialised it. You’re in the sin bin with me Paul. They’re all against us you know Paul. Voices tell me.
Revenge I suspect for being a smarty pants with Jen wasting her hard-earned to hear Blab blab Lawson. Are you near the CSIRO table perchance?
Anyway moving right along – Jen – I would have thought a critical mind like yours would have been fascinated by our Environment Minister spending $10M against advice on mysterious Russian rainmaking technology that “ionises” cloudless air to make rain. Bloody unbelievable. Your jaw is not on the floor …..
Iron is a left field funny thing.
Downer is a free kick for you.
So who’s the pick then for Saturday Luke?
C’mon – nail the colours to the mast time ; if AGW is THE issue of our era ( Ban Ki Moon – something like that )then who gets’s the vote?
The Party that’s ruled out any discussion of a realistic medium term solution or the mob that at least will talk about it?
Or is there any other credible alternative?
Reminds me of Joh funding the car that ran on water. That was a riot.
Arnost: “It seems to me that none of the political parties is trying to win the mind of the voter. They are above all else trying to win over the media. If you listen to all the speeches in totality, you will see the same topical “warm-fuzzy” repeated over and over. I guess this is in the hope that one of the iterations will be judged good enough to make that 10 second vox-pop on the news, and that the media will then have to put context around it and so have to digest and regurgitate your key point (which is elaborated in the media handout) – and hopefully without too much distortion”
Hmmm; as one who is also constantly trying to influence outcomes I suggest the less experienced voter can still get satisfaction knowing their No 1 vote helps any reasonable candidate with their $2 something electoral reimbursement. Sure, the parties flog the media with stuff designed to break through a hardened front regards their political promises but we can all call the tune behind the “Media” scene too.
I spent a long time this week organizing car hire for the holidays. In the end, I rang each likely depot as the dyo www calculators are unreliable with issues like peak time rates in reality ie, New Year’s Day at a most popular destination. Parties, candidates and policies are about as likely to deliver exact needs as the common calculator. Dyo Tax is a good example. So I get on the phone often. I hope you recognize some of my points in recent announcements. How (if) they get implemented is a good question though.
Back to candidates: A lady on ABC radio talkback today who was a toddler during the last great war recalled standing for the Communist Party as a youngster because no one else would and go two votes for her troubles. I recall they wouldn’t negotiate back then.
Listening to the electorate is just one good point, and any good candidate also needs the gift of the gab to get their message across, party polices or otherwise. Somebody once told me it’s about being sharp standing and shouting off your toes.
More food for thought: I chat to them all given half a chance.
Jennifer: “Paul has been awfully kind to post your few scraps (Luke). Surely the big news in Australia is the election THIS SATURDAY and the upcoming UN meeting in Bali. There is also the drought” …
We had a long discussion a few threads back on the history of cloud seeding in Australia and the head of the most successful Tasmanian rainmaking program was on TV commenting on this latest Turnbull maneuver.
More on the home front and the “Universities Climate Consortium”, Dr Jim Peacock and the assessment panel.
“Chubb defies climate rebuff”-
Headlines in the Canberra Times today where an exclusive article claims “ANU will now push ahead with ambitious plans to establish a world class facility” (national climate change centre). This effort to pool scientists from various departments seems to defy the wishes of our current federal Environment Minister who announced just last week new funding for such places as the Gold Coast instead.
Elections distort thinking in some quarters.
The other good news is it rained again overnight and continues to rain across the ACT.