Contents: • Preamble • Climate Change: the global context • Climate Change Impact • Existential Risk Management • Political & Corporate Attitudes • Community Response • Legal Implications • Conclusions and recommendations on Greenhouse Gas Assessment Guidance Preamble Thank you for the opportunity to make a submission to the Western Australia (WA) Environmental Protection Authority […]
Category: Economics
September 01 / 2019
A Parliament Without Trust or Legitimacy Must Go
The insults hurled by David Leyonhjelm at Sarah Hanson-Young recently put parliamentary discourse in the gutter. Leyonhjelm was roundly condemned, but not by our leaders. A limp rap across the knuckles from Turnbull and Shorten, then on to more pressing matters, hoping it will all go away. But not so fast; in governance parlance “the […]
August 09 / 2018
Comments
No Comments
Climate Change: The Fiduciary Responsibility of Politicians & Bureaucrats in the Era of Existential Climate Risks
“Fiduciary: a person to whom power is entrusted for the benefit of another” “Power is reposed in members of Parliament by the public for exercise in the interests of the public and not primarily for the interests of members or the parties to which they belong. The cry ‘whatever it takes’ is not consistent with […]
April 23 / 2018
Climate & Energy – Appeasement Does Not Work
The current chaos around climate and energy policy brings to mind George Santayana’s caution that: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. That is exactly what we are witnessing, albeit with far more profound implications even than the advent of the Second World War. In November 1936, Winston Churchill, concerned at […]
November 28 / 2017
Australia’s Coal & CSG Delusion
Energy policy is the issue to trump them all. We have already lost several Prime Ministers in its cause, and more will likely walk the plank before commonsense prevails. But the last few weeks have set new standards for national stupidity . The political rhetoric grows ever more florid, starting with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull […]
September 26 / 2017
The Leaders We Deserve ?
Rarely have politicians demonstrated their ignorance of the real risks and opportunities confronting Australia than with the recent utterances of Barnaby Joyce, Matt Canavan and other ministers promoting development of Adani and Galilee Basin coal generally, along with their petulant foot-stamping over Westpac’s decision to restrict funding to new coal projects. Likewise, Bill Shorten sees […]
May 15 / 2017
Submission to the Review of Climate Change Policies 2017
Contents: Preamble The Key Issue – Existential Risk The Rapidly Changing Context of Global Climate Change Practical Implications The Australian Context Existential Risk Management Reframing Australia’s Climate Change & Energy Policies Author: Ian Dunlop Ian Dunlop has wide experience in energy resources, infrastructure, and international business, for many years on the international staff of […]
May 04 / 2017
Submission to the Finkel Review of the National Energy Market
Contents: Preamble The Key Issue – Existential Risk The Rapidly Changing Context of Global Climate Change Practical Implications The Australian Context Existential Risk Management Request to Expert Panel Preamble Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the Preliminary Report into the Future Security of the National Energy Market. I congratulate the Expert Panel […]
March 03 / 2017
Energy Security from Clean Coal, CCS & CSG – What could possibly go wrong ?
Every few years the fossil fuel industry pressures politicians to force “clean coal”, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and more recently coal seam gas (CSG) on an increasingly sceptical community to justify their continued expansion. This cycle started with promotion of Adani’s massive Carmichael coal mine in Queensland, for coal export to India. The South […]
February 28 / 2017
The Australian Elites Have Failed Us On Climate Change
The recent utterances of Maurice Newman, Chair of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Council, suggesting that climate change is nothing more than an attempt to establish “a new world order under the UN”, engendered some hilarity. They should not, because his comments highlight a fundamental failure of leadership on the part of Australia’s elites which […]
June 21 / 2015
