Joe Hildebrand: Greens stall climate change progress because nothing is ever enough

The Greens once denounced Julia Gillard in a piece of theatre that would have made Stalin himself tear up with pride. A decade later they are doing the exact same thing, writes Joe Hildebrand.

When it comes to dealing with the green left on climate change there is only one thing you need to know: Nothing is ever enough.

Whatever positive steps either major party takes, the usual ­suspects inevitably bitch and moan that it won’t achieve anything.

And then the same usual ­suspects wonder why progress has stalled.

We know this because for the past dozen years Australia has been a real world experiment in what happens when the Greens hold the cards on climate action – or, to put it more ­accurately, hold governments ­hostage.

At the end of 2009 they killed off an emissions trading scheme for which Labor had a strong electoral mandate.

Former Australian prime minister Julia Gillard was one of many who felt the wrath of the Greens. Picture: Wendell Teodoro / AFP

Then when the party was decimated as a result, they forced it to introduce a carbon tax for which it had no electoral mandate – indeed, which the prime minister had expressly promised not to introduce.

But even that capitulation was not enough to save the government from these dead-eyed extremists.

They then turned on Julia Gillard for not sufficiently smashing the mining industry and publicly ­denounced her in a piece of theatre that would have made Uncle Joe Stalin himself tear up with pride.

Gillard was then torn down by Kevin Rudd who was in turn ­destroyed by Tony Abbott at the ballot box, with the incoming PM immediately ripping up the carbon tax and any significant action on climate along with it.

This chain of events alone tells you everything you need to know about how effective the Greens are at achieving anything on their most fundamental article of faith.

If you presented these people with Baby Hitler and a shotgun you’d come back five minutes later to find he’d just become chancellor and they’d shot themselves in the head.

Julia Gillard was succeeded by Kevin Rudd, who was then destroyed at the ballot box by anti-carbon tax candidate Tony Abbott. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

But what is even more amazing is that now, a decade later, they are doing the exact same thing – ­threatening to block Labor’s ­emissions reduction target because it doesn’t go far enough.

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result, then these guys need to be put in a padded cell.

And so Anthony Albanese was both right and righteous in putting them back in their box, which is at least a start.

If only that box locked from the outside.

The Greens did far more damage to Labor in its last period of government than the Coalition could ever have hoped to and the new Prime Minister is not about to let that ­happen again.

This is why every intelligent and long-suffering ALP supporter is ­euphoric at Albo’s splashworthy takedown.

The sun rises next to the Sydney Opera House on a frosty Friday morning. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

But unfortunately the Greens are not alone in the constant culture of complaint that has crippled the climate debate.

On Saturday, The Sydney Morning Herald ran an article headed “Labor’s emissions target rejected by experts” which opened with the following paragraph:

“Labor’s climate target is not based on the best scientific and economic advice, experts say, arguing it falls short of Australia’s commitment to the Paris Agreement, will lead to more severe damage from global warming and cost the economy more than deeper, earlier pollution cuts would.”

Climate Minister Chris Bowen could be forgiven for not even bothering with the second par and simply chucking the whole bill on a carbon neutral bonfire. Why would you even try to appease such implacable miserablists?

I am reminded of an old joke that circulated in the NSW press gallery about one particularly cynical journo. “You could literally give him a truckload of cash,” it went, “and he’d say ‘Where on earth am I supposed to park that?’”

Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen speaks during the Sydney Energy Forum. Picture: Jaimi Joy – Pool/Getty Images

Moreover, the “nothing is ever good enough” brigade play right into the hands of climate sceptics who mount an uncannily similar argument for not doing anything.

The latter say that whatever Australia does will have no real impact on a global scale while the former say that the things Australia is actually trying to do will have no real impact on a global scale.

Indeed, I cannot think of a line of argument more perfectly calibrated to dissuade any action on climate whatsoever. Well done guys!

Indeed, it is ironic that a group of people who keep condemning politicians for not following the science are themselves incapable of following even the most basic of politics.

Fortunately there are some sensible heads still screwed on in this debate, including the Australian Conservation Foundation which has urged the Greens to desist in such self-destructive lunacy.

The new ACT Senator David Pocock has also reached a similar view, putting his Greens senatorial colleagues to shame.

This approach is laudable and yet it is so obvious to anyone with half a brain that it ought to be banal.

Unfortunately half a brain is one half more than the entire Greens caucus has access to – as if this country didn’t have enough overpriced vegetables to worry about.