Folks,
As you might expect, Australia’s Canberra Times is a conformist newspaper that mostly goes along with the capital’s political fashions, and has long run the alarmist AGW line. Over the weekend there has been a turn-around. Their economics editor, a well respected David Alexander, has written a long opinion piece plus a news item, in which amongst other things to concedes that some of the climate critics are highly qualified and (based on the NZ precedent) suggests the possibility of a parliamentary enquiry into the ETS, about which he says “Much would be learnt, the public would be enthralled. Surely there is nothing to be afraid of?”.
This, and especially the understated rhetorical question, is a stunning development.
On top of which, retired ANU economics professor Richard Mulgan has an editorial in today’s Times that sings the praises of scepticism in general!
Finally, at the same time, our ABC has run an article about “carbon baggers” (lovely term!) chasing aboriginal interests, about which the blog response is almost entirely “a plague on the ETS house”.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/15/2446106.html
Things are moving, and by the sweetest irony that on the very day that the Rudd government has plumped for a timorous (though still silly, because it won’t have the faintest possible influence on future
temperature) 5% ETS rate.
Cathy
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Cathy,
nice pickup on these articles. Unsurprisingly, I note that the ABC link seems to be dead. I have noticed recently that when the ABC has a climate-related story and inevitably skeptics debunk or scorn it in the comments (if it is an article with comments enabled), then the comments are promptly switched off. If the balance had tipped too far in the skeptical side then the article itself is promptly deleted in full. Simply won’t do to have heresy out there, you see.
DMS