Atlassian boss lashes out at Scott Morrison over skipping climate change event
Atlassian boss Mike Cannon-Brookes has taken aim at Prime Minister Scott Morrison for choosing to go to a Macca’s drive-through.
Aussie billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has implored Prime Minister Scott Morrison to step up and do something to help solve the climate crisis.
The Atlassian co-founder hit out at Mr Morrison for heading to a McDonald’s drive-through instead of the UN Climate Summit in an impassioned Twitter thread.
“F**king hell mate. Macca’s again? Smart drive throughs? I think you’re missing the point. By a mile,” he wrote.
“If you were in the room yesterday, maybe you’d understand the anger of the world. But you didn’t show up?”
Mr Cannon-Brookes was referencing an unsubstantiated rumour that Mr Morrison soiled himself at Engadine McDonald’s in 1997 after his NRL team, the Cronulla Sharks, lost the grand final.
The special climate change summit was designed to showcase what countries around the world are doing to reduce their carbon emissions with others such as New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern attending.
Leaders of more than 50 countries made climate pledges and Swedish activist Greta Thunberg gave an intense speech about the crisis the world faces.
But Mr Morrison was in Chicago giving a speech on foreign policy and visiting an innovation hub where he learnt about new McDonald’s smart drive-through technology.
He arrived in New York in the afternoon as the summit was winding down for events on terrorism and extremist content on the internet.
RELATED: Start-up now worth $50 billion
Mr Cannon-Brookes said Australia was fiddling while the world literally burns.
“We face the greatest human challenge for generations!” he wrote.
“We’re not improving our targets? We are using trickery and misleading about our national emissions.
“In the past, I believe Australia has always stepped up when asked. We’ve never dodged our global responsibilities ... until now.”
He said the science was clear.
“Coal is the number one source of climate damage,” he said.
“Our world is at war and Australia is one of the principal arms dealers!
“As only 25m people, we generate and export over 5 per cent of the world’s emissions today. “We’re on track for 13 per cent by 2030! The responsibility should terrify you.”
We face the greatest human challenge for generations! We’re not improving our targets? We are using trickery & misleading about our national emissions.
— Mike Cannon-Brookes 👨ðŸ¼â€ðŸ’»ðŸ§¢ (@mcannonbrookes) September 24, 2019
In the past, I believe Australia has always stepped up when asked. We’ve never dodged our global responsibilities... until now.
Mr Cannon-Brookes implored Mr Morrison to do something big.
“Say something _bold_ at the UN. For Australia. For our pride. For our f**king planet.
“Five of the 10 biggest companies in Australia have committed to run on 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025 through @theRE100. Why can’t we do that with government energy usage?! Our schools? Our transportation networks? Our hospitals? Commit.
“Be brave and be on the right side of history!”
He said Australia should be a renewable energy superpower.
“We can generate huge numbers of jobs,” he said.
“We have exporting DNA. We’ve crushed giant engineering challenges as a nation. We’ve done this before. I believe our government _can_ think big.
“But Australia didn’t come to the UN with a speech or a plan! What we need is real bloody leadership - instead we just get talking points.
“Please give us a future we can believe in tomorrow. Inspire us. Lead us. Don’t bullsh*t us.
“I’m happy to help, as are millions of Aussies.”
His comments come as a UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report reveals the “future looks dire”.
The findings released in Monaco tonight depict a marine world in crisis from heatwaves, increasing acidity, and reduced fishing yields.
Coastal flooding occurring once every hundred years could become annual events, according to the Australian National University’s Associate Professor Nerilie Abram, a climate change scientist who worked on the report.
Bushfire warning after sign of what’s to come
Firefighters in one state have been called to 1600 blazes in three months before “fire season” even officially begins.
State cops 110mm drenching overnight
One Aussie state has copped a 110mm drenching from wild weather overnight, with the weather bureau warning of similar soakings to come and 100kmh wind gusts along the east coast.
Insane moment house swallowed by ocean
Dramatic footage has captured the moment a beachfront home was swallowed by the ocean and swept away by the tide. It’s the third house to collapse in four days.