2 Years On From The Fires
One thing that is encouraging is the news that there actually is a similar level of support for climate policy action in rural Australia as there is in urban areas. For years there has been a gap, and the Nationals have been able to make mileage from that gap claiming Green policies were some kind of urban fantasy that does not suit the needs of the bush. Of course as I have wondered out loud for years on this very blog, you wonder when the rural electorate comes to the reckoning that Global Warming is indeed coming for them, and may impact their wallets harder than the latte-sipping-trendy-lefties dwelling in the cities. After all, your farm could go up in flames but it's hard for bushfires to burn down a 2 bedroom flat in the inner city.
With the IPCC report that came out, governments around the world have been served notice that we are simply on the last stretch. The Coalition government might try to dress up its language to assuage the denialists amongst their own constituency, but not taking significant action is no longer an option. If the Australian government does not do something serious to mitigate Australia's emissions, the governments around the world will take the opportunity to tax Australian exports at the border. In other words, we will be paying for somebody else's carbon tax coffers rather than our own. And if that simple I-Me-Mine sort of sentiment does not persuade the Coalition, perhaps the recent sceneries of flooding in NYC in the wake of Hurricane Ida might persuade them that the future repair bills for our cities affected by Global Warming will likely have to come from somewhere - and that somewhere is most likely going to be from carbon pricing.
Not to mention the insurance business not being able to offer insurance for ever increasing parts of Australia might finally persuade rural Nationals voters that maybe denialism and head in the sand-ism of the National Party has to come to an end. We'll see.
One thing we know for sure is that we have run out of time for inaction. Something's going to break. It may very well be party politics.
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