I got angry about climate change again this week, in particular this stunt by NSW Liberal MPs. With my blood up after my first coffee for the day I wrote the below and sent it off. Maybe there are some points in there you’d like to take to your local members? Politics aside, the ACT’s response to climate change is the most appropriate in the country. It only appears radical because everyone else, particularly federal politicians, are doing so little.
Good morning Ms Goward,
I note with disappointment your media event and associated opposition to the ACT’s ambitious renewable energy plan. Two things in particular are disappointing and I would have thought below you. First, the idea that electricity should be produced in the region it is consumed, or any other product for that matter, is absurd and not how we have ever operated. Do the people of Lithgow complain about hosting our power plants? Do you drive out there and apologise from time to time? Do you feel guilt that the cheap power that has driven our economy is killing the residents of Morwell? A functioning economy has always depended on distributing costs and benefits and electricity generation is no different.
What I am most disappointed about though is the argument against the ACT’s principled stand. It appears from the article in the Canberra Times that you said “Ninety per cent by 2020 is really quite outrageous – it’s pandering totally to a green movement. It’s unrealistic, it’s impractical and wind turbines are notoriously unreliable as well.” This amounts to you asking the ACT to stop being ambitious. Their action is making you and the laggards in the LNP look bad. Rather then try and work harder on your own response you try and bring others down. It is disgusting and will be viewed with utter contempt in years to come.
You have an opportunity to do the right thing by your electorate and their children, by being ambitious and taking action. Yet you choose to bring others down instead. Party unity is one thing, doing the right thing something else entirely.
Why not think about the jobs in your region? Or the health benefits that come from reducing coal use and mining? The Goulburn region has a stunning wind resource, that can bring jobs and money to the region. While climate change ruins farms and rain patterns, you choose to do nothing and stand in the way of a new income stream for these properties.
I hope you change your mind and support the most ambitious and appropriate government response to climate change in Australia at the moment. I have not read a report yet that thinks Direct Action will work, and there are no penalties if it doesn’t. If you are serious about addressing climate change you can stand up and say something. If you are not, history will judge you very harshly.
I am available to speak further about this on [mobile number] and happy to discuss more appropriate policy responses to climate change if you desire.
Regards,
Evan Beaver
Evcricket's Energy 