What you said: Climate conferences distract Chris Bowen from doing damage, writes Mike O’Connor

Two Aussie politicians are in the crosshairs after a string of controversial moves. HAVE YOUR SAY

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen speaks during a plenary session at COP30 in Brazil. Picture: Andre Penner/AP

Turkey may be hosting the COP31 climate change conference but Aussies are the big winners, according to columnist Mike O’Connor.

In an opinion piece that ignited an almighty debate, O’Connor welcomed the exit of Energy Minister Chris Bowen to the event.

“... Anything that takes you out of the country and distracts you from ensuring we have among the highest energy prices in the world while wasting billions on renewable fantasy projects has to be a good thing,” he wrote.

But O’Connor called for more.

“Now all that is left to do is to get them to take federal Environment Minister Murray Watt as well who is fast assuming a leading role in the parliamentary pantheon of looney tunes cartoon characters that populate federal parliament,” he wrote.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen (left) at COP30 in Brazil. Picture: Anderson Coelho/Reuters

Why? Because according to Mr Watt the Coalition has abandoned Queensland.

“(They are) content to sit back in Canberra and watch as the Sunshine State is consumed by bushfires and obliterated by cyclones on those occasions when it is not submerged beneath raging floodwaters,” O’Connor wrote.

“... Senator Watt needs to grab a kebab, take a walk down the Queen Street Mall and ask Queenslanders how they feel about being treated like idiots.”

Readers were quick to take aim at Bowen and Watt, with many suggesting they are failing to perform their roles.

Others, meanwhile, said Labor had big issues to address, while some mooted wider problems across the country.

See what you had to say below and join the conversation >>>

WHAT YOU SAID

Time to go

Paul

Get rid of Bowen, I just can’t believe people voted for this guy

Bystander

Labor kept him hidden during the election campaign.

John

he has been a failure at every job he’s “done”.

Steve

Here is a Minister that has failed yet again

Despite hiring an empire of PS to do whatever they do not one person is responsible to ensure that the equipment imported into Australia for the dream of Bowen with his renewables madness has met Australian standards

Panther

Bowen is the weakest link in a circus of weak links.

Use common sense

Boswoz

If people only use just a little common sense.

At very great expense, Australia started reducing emissions in 2005.

Since then, the climate has “apparently “ got much worse. Shouldn’t it be starting to get slowly better?

GeoffG

Anybody with a functioning brain knows that one watt is not very bright.

Resident

If Minister Watt is so concerned about climate change why does he live next to Enoggera Creek which floods practically every year? Why doesn’t he live on top of Mt Cootha?

KimA

It is almost as if our hopeless reckless destructive Albanese clown government lives in a parallel universe where logic commonsense and reality don’t apply, where they all seem incapable or unwilling or just too ideologically blinded to realise the real world consequences of their actions and insane policies.

Wider issues

Why Bother

We have bred a generation that will not do manufacturing jobs. They see it as below their expectations and a bit hard and a bit dirty. You can create all the manufacturing you like but then you will need high immigration to provide workers. We are stuffed.

DenLo

Unfortunately all those worthy and badly needed infrastructure projects will be met with ferocious lawfare and campaigns of outright lies by Labor, RedGreens, TEALS, and other ratbag leftys.

Beth

I doubt whether most people are aware of who Senator Watt is, possibly Bowen, let alone what they’re doing, sadly.

Mark

Years and years of il informed education indoctrination have exposed a whole generation of younger voting Australians into believing that catastrophic weather events have been entirely man made and caused exclusively by fossil burning fuels.

Errol

Whilst we all agree Bowen is a poor performer there are No shortage of other poor performing ministers in Albo Gov.

Originally published as What you said: Climate conferences distract Chris Bowen from doing damage, writes Mike O’Connor