NewsBite

Aunty bangs The Drum for a fact-free fatwa on carbon

No answers on climate change. ABC’s The Drum, July 30:

Host Ellen Fanning: When you (Georgina Downer) worked … for the right-wing Institute of Public Affairs … you described climate change policies as “a global fatwa on carbon” … (yet) when you became the candidate (for Mayo) you refused to answer questions about climate change.

No answers? ABC Radio Adelaide, May 16:

Ali Clarke: Back in 2016, you praised the election of US President Donald Trump as … “a big rejection of the international environment movement and its fatwa against carbon”, can you explain that?

Georgina Downer: Yes, I thought the election of Donald Trump offered an opportunity to reset the agenda … I believe … climate change exists … and if there are things we can do about it we should … but … we need to take a balanced approach and make sure the changes we make in … our economy are not detrimental to the way we live our lives.

Fatwa on carbon comments gone. ABC’s The Drum, July 30:

Fanning: It’s a little difficult (to know what you meant) because the Twitter account has gone (where you were) talking about the global fatwa on carbon …

Gone? Georgina Downer, The Sydney Morning Herald, November 10, 2016:

Trump’s election is a big rejection of the international environmental movement and its fatwa against carbon. In the US … the closure of coalmines and regulatory hurdles to shale gas are blamed for blowing out the cost of electricity … Trump wants America to be energy self-sufficient and will encourage the development of US shale gas reserves as a source of low-emission, cheap energy.

Facts! ABC’s The Drum, July 30:

Fanning: … facts are very, very important, we’re not in a post-fact era …

Interviewing? ABC’s The Drum, July 30:

Fanning: When you start talking about the global fatwa on carbon … were you expressing those views because you were paid by the IPA? … Were you aware … that Gina Rinehart was a key backer of the organisation? … were you aware that she was a key backer of the IPA? … Did you know about that? … Did you know Gina Rinehart was a backer? Sorry to keep interrupting but did you know, yes or no? … did you know? … I’ll just try one more time … were you aware, were you aware, that she was a backer of the IPA, yes or no? Were you aware that she was a financial backer?

Or drowning out voices? Brigid Delaney, The Sydney Morning Herald, August 25, 2013:

(Ellen Fanning says): “You sit at dinner with people and you know they are not listening to you; they are … waiting for a pause to say the next thing. I do that … I do it all the time” … Why aren’t people listening to each other? “Because you’ve got to continually drown out the voices in your head … I very consciously put blinkers on,” says Fanning.

US Poo-gate. Politico.com, May 25:

Virginia Republican Tom Garrett and his wife turned the congressman’s staff into personal servants, multiple former employees to the freshman Republican … (said,) assigning them tasks from grocery shopping to fetching the congressman’s clothes … all during work hours … They were even expected to … clean up after Sophie, their Jack Russell-pomeranian mix … the couple would … seem to forget the dog was in the office … (it) occasionally defecated on the floor and aides had to clean up the mess.

Read related topics:Climate Change

Add your comment to this story

To join the conversation, please Don't have an account? Register

Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/cutandpaste/aunty-bangs-the-drum-for-a-factfree-fatwa-on-carbon/news-story/ba2ad8369480152de89f25d5fd803006