Marshall Perron’s climate warning an unsettling, and timely, missive from the past

AS lives and properties are lost in apocalyptic firestorms, our politicians claim it isn’t the right time to discuss if this terrifying new normal is related to a changing climate. There is no better time

Few would argue the men of the Marshall Perron administrations were anything but deeply conservative. Pictured are Eric Poole, Ian Tuxworth, Marshall Perron and Nick Dondas in 1989

• NT’s conservative CLP government warned of climate change threat 30 years ago

FEW would argue the men who made up the Marshall Perron ministries of the late 1980s and early 1990s were anything but a deeply conservative lot.

But back then, there was nothing controversial around the need for action against climate change.

It is eerie to read today – as bushfires tear across the country – the newly unsealed cabinet records from 1989 which show how seriously the then-CLP government took the threat posed by the greenhouse effect.

The submission made by the Territory to a federal inquiry urged a co-ordinated approach to combat the potential impacts.

It called for the exploration of alternative energy sources and cited scientists who predicted temperatures could increase by 1.5-4.5C by 2030.

Residents watch a large bushfire as seen from Bargo, 150km southwest of Sydney. Unprecedented heatwaves have continued to fan out-of-control bushfires, destroying homes and smothering huge areas with toxic smoke. Picture: Peter Parks/AFP

In 1989, there was nothing particularly remarkable about this stance from a conservative government.

It’s hard to imagine a conservative government doing the same today without being howled down as left wing lunatics.

While our leaders – including Prime Minister Scott Morrison – have accepted the reality of climate change, there’s little appetite to actually do something about it.

Even now, as lives and properties are lost in apocalyptic firestorms, our politicians claim it isn’t the right time to discuss if this terrifying new normal is related to a changing climate.

There is no better time.

Perhaps if we had been more willing to have these talks during the past 30 years, the situation today would be different.