News That's Fit To Punt - 04/Aug/2015

"You've Never Had It So Good" Revisited

There are a lot of these old paedophiles getting their names dragged through the press these days. Whether it be Jimmy Saville or Rolf Harris, there seems to have been a regular trope of dirty old old men abusing children in their care and then having it covered up. Maybe once upon a time those cover ups were good enough to protect the names of the guilty, but times have changed. The abusers of old are being brought out into the daylight.

And so this bring sis to a former prime Minister of the UK no less, the late Edward Heath is now being investigated for paedophilia allegations that were covered up.

The British police watchdog is investigating claims of an old cover-up over allegations that former prime minister Edward Heath abused children.
Police on Monday called for any victims of abuse by Sir Ted Heath, or witnesses to any abuse, to come forward. 

London's Mirror newspaper spoke to one alleged victim, now 64, who said he was assaulted at age 12 in an exclusive Mayfair flat in 1961 when Sir Edward was an MP. And the Guardian reported that detectives have spoken to a middle-aged man who says he was abused as a child by Heath several times.

Sir Edward died in 2005, aged 89. He was prime minister in the early 1970s and lost the leadership of the Conservative party to Margaret Thatcher in 1975.
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Wiltshire Police were said to have heard allegations about Sir Ted Heath in the 1990s, but they were not followed up. 

Superintendent Sean Memory told the BBC: "We had a senior retired police officer come forward (in late 2014) to inform us that they believed a trial may have been vacated [abandoned] as a result of information received in relation to Sir Ted Heath. We've looked extensively at that and we've decided to make a referral to the IPCC [Independent Police Complaints Commission]." 

The IPCC inquiry will look at how the case was handled by Wiltshire Police and if the trial was stopped, why it was stopped, Superintendent Memory said. "More important for me today is, are there victims of sexual abuse from Sir Ted Heath or witnesses, and if so I would ask them to come forward today."

When you think about the Lord John Sewell who was in the papers the other day, who was snorting drugs and cavorting with prostitutes, you get the feeling that these revelations coming in a cluster aren't for nothing; that perhaps somebody somewhere is trying to set right the wrongs that got buried along the way. It really is interesting how these things are coming to light, one after the other lately.

The "It's What You Wanted Isn't It?" Moment

Turns out the Coalition's choice of tackling climate change known as Direct Action does sweet fuck all. That is to say, under this Coalition government, carbon emissions have increased, thanks to burning more black coal. Like, who would've guessed that would happen, right? Who could have guessed it? Repeal the Carbon pricing mechanism and just let these old school carbon-pollutin' Low-Falutin' (if such term could be coined)  energy companies on the loose with their antiquated, filthy, low-efficiency power fossil fuel power generators. The mind boggles. But of course this is exactly what Tony Abbott promised to deliver, and so I guess we should chalk up this mess to him.

Pressure for Australia to set an ambitious goal ahead of the Paris climate summit at the end of the year has also increased with the release overnight of Mr Obama's Clean Power Plan aimed at cutting carbon emissions by 32 per cent on 2005 levels.  

"It's obvious we're going in the other direction," Dr Saddler said. 

Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the post-2020 targets will be released soon.
"We welcome the action by the United States – and note that they are tackling climate change without a painful carbon tax," Mr Hunt said. 

However Mark Butler, the opposition spokesman on climate change, said the Abbott government's policies were to blame for the jump in power-sector emissions, particularly "stalled investment in renewable energy, the removal of the carbon price – and the perpetrator of all this is because of [Prime Minister] Tony Abbott". 

"For as long as Tony Abbott is Prime Minister, carbon pollution will rise," he said.
Greens deputy leader Larissa Waters linked the emissions jump to party donations: "Coal companies' donations to the government are now paying off in a big way with the biggest surge of pollution in living memory. 

"This surge in pollution can be added to the mountain of evidence that the carbon price worked beautifully," Senator Waters said. "Pollution dropped as the economy expanded and unemployment was smaller then than it is now."

Which I guess comes back to the abject lack of leadership in tackling one of the greatest challenges of our times; a challenge that this Federal Government is totally incapable of addressing with any credibility, authority or intellectual honesty. 

Which brings me to the next bit...

The Business Leaders Disagree With Tony Abbott

Just because Tony Abbott installs Maurice Newman to oversea a review of climate policy - a bit like putting an ostrich in charge of airport policy - doesn't mean the business sector as a whole does not believe in climate change and global warming. If anything Maurice Newman appears to be out on his own, out on a limb and mostly out to lunch with his denialist position.

In that light it's probably worth noting this opinion piece by Cameron Clyne, former head of the NAB:

These risks are what the economists call "stranded asset" risks. It's an evocative term for when an asset – a coal mine, a power station, a smelter – still has years of life in it, but just can't compete because the economic or regulatory tide has turned. 

We know from history what happens when a business or a government sets its face against a change that is coming anyway. It's usually not the politicians or the chief executives who end up at the unemployment office. Leadership mistakes are worn by people who are least at fault for the bad decisions: the workers, their families and the communities that depend on them. 

It's everyday Australians who bear the brunt, cop the hit and pay for the wilful ignorance and blindness of political leaders – and some in the business community – to the very real and very rapid changes that are all around us. 

Turning away from the problem will not make the problem go away. It seems some in Australia are willfully blind to these problems and the problems this poses for our nation and its economic and social fabric. 

The Abbott government is not leading Australia in the direction that's needed, but the forthcoming meetings in Paris to set new carbon reduction targets is a chance for them to do so. It will be a critical moment for our national economy and our people.

That's about as clearly put as you can have it.