<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/sep/24/coalition-mps-say-australias-emissions-are-a-fraction-of-the-worlds-total-what-kind-of-argument-is-that>
"What do you think would happen if you decided that because the amount of tax
you owe the government was only a barely perceptible percentage of overall tax
revenue, you weren’t going to bother paying?
Aside from the ATO laughing at you before sending you a bill, your friends
would probably call you a freeloader, telling you everyone has to do their bit.
This brings us (no honestly, it does) to the way some Coalition members have
been arguing about the climate crisis in recent weeks, and whether Australia
should bother to get its greenhouse gas emissions down to net zero.
The Liberal party’s backing of a net zero climate target is under review, but
frontbench MP Andrew Hastie has joined other Coalition figures, including
Nationals Barnaby Joyce and Matt Canavan, in calling for Australia to abandon
the target.
When making these arguments, conservatives have been saying Australia’s
emissions are only a small percentage of the global total.
The conclusion they want Australians to reach is clear – if our country’s
emissions are so small, why bother?
“Net zero is devastating for our economy and will have absolutely zero effect
on the climate,” Joyce said this week. “It has no effect on the climate
whatsoever.”
Hastie has pointed to China’s outsized emissions, alongside the United States
and India, contrasting it with Australia’s “1.1%” of global emissions.
“It’s been called the drop in the bucket argument,” says Prof Brendan Mackey,
the director of the
Griffith Climate Action Beacon at Griffith University.
“But the argument is deeply flawed for a number of reasons.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
