Climate change, Clive Palmer on polling, Kim Carr on socialism

Climate crusades, Clive Palmer on polling, forward into the past with Kim Carr and time to nationalise BHP Billiton.

Climate crusades. Nicole Hasham, Fairfax Media, yesterday:

About two in three Australians say the Abbott government should take climate change more seriously and even more believe coal-fired power will eventually be supplanted, indicating a potential voter backlash if the Coalition adopts facile emissions targets and continues its perceived attacks on renewable energy. The research by the independent Climate Institute comes after Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Sunday set the scene for his government’s highly anticipated announcement … on the post-2020 emissions cuts Australia will take to a global climate deal in Paris later this year.

One question they forgot. Alan Moran, Catallaxy blog, yesterday:

The Climate Institute did not ask respondents how much they are prepared to pay.

Nothing if not consistent. Clive Palmer, Lateline, ABC television, August 27, 2013:

When I was former party director there were polling companies that I used to give large donations to and they would write the results for them.

And yesterday:

I’ve never said I’ve done that. I’ve said that I’ve seen that happen in the Coalition and the National Party and the Liberal Party and I was the party spokesman at the time and I saw those reports. I thought that was a bad thing to do, but it’s the way the public is misled by the journalists.

Forward into the past, comrades, backwards into the future. Kim Carr stands stalwart in defence of the socialisation objective, Facebook, yesterday:

Labor doesn’t need to search for a reason for being. Socialisation is about defending a just minimum wage and fair working conditions. It is about the creation and defence of Medicare, the enhancement of a great public education system, and the construction of national infrastructure such as the Snowy Mountains Scheme and the National Broadband Network. In the fourth industrial revolution — the transformation of economic life through digital technologies — the principles of socialisation are as relevant and necessary as they were in the first.

So then. Time to nationalise BHP Billiton? Brendan O’Connor, media release, yesterday:

The shadow minister for employment and workplace relations Brendan O’Connor has called on the Abbott government to take immediate action in response to BHP Billiton’s decision to sack a further 380 workers.

So much for organised labour. The Canberra Times, yesterday:

Public servants at Canberra’s Parliament House have voted to put their wage dispute into the faces of the nation’s politicians with strike action on Capital Hill. But the keenly anticipated first parliamentary session after the long winter break … will be spared disruption, the workplace union confirmed … Department of Parliamentary Services workers will need several weeks to get organised, according to the CPSU, and it will be well into September before any action is taken.

The baleful legacy of Hugo Chavez. Headline, The Guardian, yesterday:

Venezuela risks running out of beer during heatwave amid supply short­ages.

Plus ca change. Alan RM Jones, Twitter, yesterday:

The House has a great new speaker and Labor still has Bill Shorten. Win, win.