The little-known House of Representatives standing committee on science and innovation today released a report summarising its inquiry into geosequestration (capturing and burying CO2).
While most were expecting that the most interesting part of the report would be estimates about when geosequestration would be available (if ever) and how much it would be likely to cost, few expected that Coalition MPs would so openly disagree with the international scientific consensus on climate change. Four MP’s- Dr Dennis Jensen, Jackie Kelly, Danna Vale and David Tollner (the ‘flatearth four’) released a dissenting report to the inquiry which began “We do not believe the evidence unequivocally supports the hypothesis of anthropogenic global warming”!
The dissenting report to the House Inquiry into Geosequestration Technology by Coalition MPs shows how deep-rooted climate scepticism is in the Federal Government, and helps explain its continuing inaction on climate change.
While the rest of the world is debating how to implement the solutions to climate change, Government MPs continue to challenge the overwhelming scientific consensus and urge no action. While the Prime Minister now publicly concedes the reality of climate change, this dissenting report shows that behind that facade, the Government’s policy response is driven by an ongoing refusal to face up to the greatest threat this country faces.
With the Prime Minister attempting in recent months to convince the Australian public that his government takes climate change seriously with the proposed introduction of an emissions trading scheme surely this is the last thing the Liberal Party, and the planet, needs. It raises the question, if 4 out of 7 Coalition MP’s on this committee don’t believe in climate change is this proportion representative of the membership of the Liberal and National Parties?
Mark Wakeham and Ben Pearson
Greenpeace Energy campaigners.
