The Abbott government is paying lip service to the renewable energy industry because it knows speaking its mind would be unpalatable to the public
Even to a long-term student of political ventriloquy, the Abbott government’s capacity to speak out of both sides of its mouth on climate policy is astonishing.
It claims to run a credible environment policy while pandering to those who would prefer to do nothing. It spends $660m, mostly to continue projects started under the former government’s carbon market or its state precursors, while maintaining as its chief business adviser Maurice Newman, who claims climate change is a UN-led ruse to bring about a new world order.