admin /1 March, 2006
The small group of industry lobbyists who proudly call themselves the
“greenhouse mafia†experienced some rare bad weather after Four Corners
aired an expose based on his doctoral research, wrote Dr Guy Pearse, a
Canberra government relations and environment policy consultant in The Canberra Times (28/2/06, p.15).
O’Neill keeps fire burning: None of the Australian Industry
Greenhouse Network (AIGN) members interviewed lacked the sense to seek
shelter while the storm passed. However, while the media has moved on,
the executive director of the Australian Coal Association (ACA), Mark
O’Neill, has done his best to keep the story alive.
Smear campaign: “First there was a rare ACA media statement
aimed at discrediting me along with my research. Emboldened with Andrew
Bolt’s reliable support in another newspaper, O’Neill then took the
smear campaign onto this page last week. The Four Corners story and my
research are in his view, one big unsubstantiated conspiracy theory,”
said Pearse.
Key coal industry players tinker policy: “Yet, there is no
conspiracy here , only fully documented confessions freely provided by
a dozen past and present AIGN insiders, including key coal industry
players. Among the confessions, claims that they wrote cabinet
submissions and ministerial briefings in at least two federal
departments on 4-5 occasions over a decade.
Sorry O’Neill, a matter of privacy: “O’Neill has ‘challenged’ me
to publicly name the people I interviewed. Forget the ANU’s ethics
protocol, forget the consent form his colleagues signed that bound me
not to reveal identities, forget my obligations – just jump over the
line and name names.
O’Neill misses the fine line: “O’Neill also misses the point of
the Four Comers program by then suggesting that I am the very brand of
lobbyist that the ABC claimed to be exposing. He quotes at length the
lobbying services offered on the AEC Group website, apparently not
spotting the difference between my business activities and the
greenhouse mafia confessions about writing ministerial briefings and
cabinet submissions.
A speedy DITR refutes claims: “Needless to say, these claims
have yet to be properly investigated as far as I can tell. The Industry
Minister says his department has investigated the claims and found them
to be false. It’s beyond me how in less than 24 hours the Department of
Industry, Tourism and Resources was able to properly investigate
multiple instances over a decade without knowing the cabinet
submissions, briefings or industry lobbyists involved.
Frustrated green-conscious Aust businesses: “The response to
date will have the greenhouse mafia relaxed and comfortable, protected
from scrutiny and competition. Meanwhile, most of the Australian
business community are not so fortunate. They’re crying out for medium
and long-term emission reduction targets and emissions trading because
without them greenhouse pollution is priced at zero and there’s no
incentive to make clean technology investment choices.
Govt not keen now, not ever: “So, why would the federal
Government oppose new targets for Australian emissions along with an
emissions trading system even though international experience shows it
can cut abatement costs by 50 per cent or more? The answer is as sad as
it is simple. Neither the Government, nor the greenhouse mafia intend
that Australia cut its emissions, ever.
AUS faces bleak future: “The Australian Bureau of Agricultural
and Resource Economics’ recent analysis of the best case scenarios for
the Asia Pacific Partnership confirms that there is no prospect for
absolute cuts in Australia’s greenhouse emissions or global emissions
under current policy,” concluded Pearse.
