On 22 April 2021 two Australian fossil fools came out to frolic under the public gaze - Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison at the virtual Leaders Summit and Saudi Arabian Oil Company director Andrew Liveris on the ABC program Q&A

Two fossil fools currently roaming wild in Australia
Saudi Arabian Oil Company director Andrew Liveris (left) and Prime Minister Scott Morrison (right)
IMAGE: Crikey, 16 September 2020

In March 2020 Australian Prime Minister & Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison created the National COVID-19 Co-ordination Commission Advisory Board with the aim of building a fossil fuel led economic recovery.

One Andrew N. Liveris - former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Dow Chemical Company, former director of DowDuPont, current director of Saudi Arabian Oil Company, self-styled advisor to Australian & US governments and an apparent chum of Andrew 'Twiggy' Forrest of Cashless Welfare Card fame and Scott Morrison - became a Special Adviser to the Commission from April 2020 to September 2020 and head of the Commission's Manufacturing Taskforce.

Perhaps there is a hint in the following exchange as to why he is no longer mentioned in connection with the National COVID-19 Co-ordination Commission.

The man has a very large ego and a rather abrasive personality. He apparently also has a problem with basic maths.

ABC Q&A program, 22 April 2021 transcript, excerpts:

HAMISH MACDONALD:

Andrew Liveris, you’ve promoted this gas-led recovery. Many take the view that you’re committing us to fossil fuels for much longer than we need to.

ANDREW LIVERIS:

So, let me...

HAMISH MACDONALD:

Explain it. Justify it.

ANDREW LIVERIS:

...let me teach you a new term – fossil feedstock. OK? Let me...

NARELDA JACOBS:

Let me teach you a term.

ANDREW LIVERIS:

Yeah, please.

NARELDA JACOBS:

If you believe there’s a future in fossil fuels...

ANDREW LIVERIS:

Yeah.

NARELDA JACOBS:

...then you are a fossil...fool.

ANDREW LIVERIS:

Narelda...

ANDREW LIVERIS:

Thank you. I take it as a...I take it as a badge of honour that you would call me that. Fossil feedstock is all of your modern life. You want to live a modern life, you need a fossil feedstock. You can’t get carbon any other way. If you want a chemistry lesson, I’ll help you out the back.

MALCOLM TURNBULL:

Oh...

ANDREW LIVERIS:

What you’ve got to do...

SARAH HANSON-YOUNG:

Man...

MALCOLM TURNBULL:

Andrew. Andrew.

SARAH HANSON-YOUNG:

...you’re just...

ANDREW LIVERIS:

Listen.

SARAH HANSON-YOUNG:

You’re so patronising. Like, just...

ANDREW LIVERIS:

But...

SARAH HANSON-YOUNG:

Seriously.

HAMISH MACDONALD:

Let’s just try and keep it respectful amongst all of us...

ANDREW LIVERIS:

And you’re not?

HAMISH MACDONALD:

...and stick to the policy...

SARAH HANSON-YOUNG:

Well, I’m not the one shaking my finger at people, mate.

HAMISH MACDONALD:

Folks, let’s just keep to the policy, if we can.

ANDREW LIVERIS:

Yeah. Well, you’re yelling.

HAMISH MACDONALD:

Uh, why is it that Australia...why is it that Australia needs a gas pipeline, for example, across the Nullarbor to bring it to the east coast from the west? Can you just justify this promotion of a gas-led recovery?

ANDREW LIVERIS:

There’s 850,000 Australians employed by industries that use gas as a feedstock. 850,000. At the current pricing levels, they’re paid Japanese spot price. Spot price. So, Japan gets cheaper gas than we do for our industry. Those industries you need for everyday life. And I’ll take the commentary that I’m patronising and I’m yelling, ‘cause I’m passionate about this, ‘cause there’s a gap in our knowledge base.

I’ll buy Malcolm’s discussion on gas as a firming fuel anytime. I totally agree with that. Gas as a segue to hydrogen, I also agree with that. That’s the fuel part. The feedstock part is not well understood, and it absolutely, totally makes me... Try to understand, why is it not understood in this wonderful country of ours? These jobs need to be not only protected, but we need to grow them. So, we... This sequester of carbon…

HAMISH MACDONALD:

So, how long do we need gas for as a transition fuel, then?

ANDREW LIVERIS:

So, again, you use the word ‘fuel’, OK, and I’m trying to actually...

HAMISH MACDONALD:

Yeah, I understand the point you’re making about feedstock, but...

ANDREW LIVERIS:

You do?

HAMISH MACDONALD:

...ultimately, this is a question that’s been put to you about a commitment to fossil fuels longer-term.

ANDREW LIVERIS:

So, remember...

HAMISH MACDONALD:

So, I’m just trying to understand what you...what period you see us using gas as a transition for.

ANDREW LIVERIS:

The National COVID Commission work we did was for manufacturing, OK? It wasn’t for electricity. It wasn’t for doing the power balance, or any of that. The work we did was totally based on using the carbon for manufacturing. That’s the work we did. OK? I have no skin in the game to keeping natural gas for power, for anything other than a transition. There’s no reason to do that. Because it is an emitter. It’s not as big an emitter as coal, but it certainly is an emitter. So you’ve got to use it as a transition. That’s it. Until batteries become affordable and scalable, until we can actually get more Snowy Hydros. And why you need a gas pipeline is as much to provide that transition for that, but more for industry, which is why I’m trying to bring it back to the feedstock conversation.

MALCOLM TURNBULL:

Andrew, where are the 850,000 jobs that use gas as feedstock? 

ANDREW LIVERIS:

Fertilisers, plastics, chemicals, explosives… [my yellow highlighting]

NOTE: An estimated 16,511 persons are employed in the four industries cited by Mr. Liveris. See note below.

MALCOLM TURNBULL:

And there are 850,000 people working in Australia making plastics?

ANDREW LIVERIS:

Yes, yes.

MALCOLM TURNBULL:

Is that right?

ANDREW LIVERIS:

Not plastics – all those industries I just said.

MALCOLM TURNBULL:

I don’t think that’s true.

SARAH HANSON-YOUNG:

No. Yeah.

ANDREW LIVERIS:

That is true. I can send you the data.

MALCOLM TURNBULL:

I think you’ve exaggerated. I honestly think you’re way out of...

ANDREW LIVERIS:

Well...

MALCOLM TURNBULL:

...you’re way off the chart.

ANDREW LIVERIS:

Malcolm, I use the same people you used for research, as when you were prime minister. So, go talk to the people in Canberra.

MALCOLM TURNBULL:

OK. Well...

ANDREW LIVERIS:

I mean, they’re the same...

MALCOLM TURNBULL

I don’t mind you mansplaining me. That’s alright. (CHUCKLES)

ANDREW LIVERIS:

I’m not. I’m not, Malcolm.

MALCOLM TURNBULL:

You are, but it’s alright. It’s OK. It’s OK.

ANDREW LIVERIS:

That’s a pretty cheap blow.

MALCOLM TURNBULL:

It’s OK. It’s OK. It’s alright.

NOTES:

1.Fertiliser Manufacturing in Australia in 2021 employed 3,557 persons.

2.Plastics Manufacturing & Plastic Bottle Manufacturing in Australia in 2020 & 2021 employed a combined total of 8,154 persons.

3.Explosives Manufacturing in Australia in 2020 & 2021 employed 3,527 persons.

4.Basic Organic Chemical* Manufacturing in Australia in 2020 employed 1,273 persons. *The modern term “basic organic chemical” now refers to chemicals derived from both organic and carbon sources such as petroleum & natural gas.

5.Industrial Gas Manufacturing in Australia in 2021 employed 2,005 persons.

Meme of the Week

 

The Prime Minister for Word Salad
Courtesy of @stevethompson49

Quotes of the Week

"Picture the scene: an endless warming sea of hardhats and high-vis and blokes. Giant trucks. “Working class man” pumping over the PA. Morrison’s exhausted PR manager presumably celebrating the stagecraft by jizzing on a desk somewhere or fucking in the Parliamentary prayer room. Cameras rolling, shutters clicking, the curated image of “Scomo”, man of the people beamed far and wide, the media’s stenography for this self-interested sociopath in full swing." [Coloumnist Dave Milner witing in The Shot, 23 April 2021] 

Micalo Island on the Clarence Valley floodplain, April 2021

Micalo Island is a low-lying island in the Clarence River estuary, subjected to periodic flooding and tidal inundation. It remains an essential breeding and feeding habitat for a diverse array of important native fish species and other aquatic animals.

The island is within the final 6kms of the Clarence Valley floodplain before it meets the ocean and is surrounded by bodies of water local government mapping designates as “floodways”.

When the Clarence River floods the predicted flood depths in the centre of Micalo Island are likely to be in the vicinity of:

Flood 1 in 5yr 0.83-0.9, 0.9-0.98 metres

Flood 1 in 20yr 1.66-1.77 metres

Flood 1 in 50yr 1.75-1.86, 1.86-1.97 metres

Flood 1 in 100yr 2.09-2.2 metres

Flood Extreme 3.68-3.8 metres.

Like nearby Yamba, the island only has one road connecting it to the wider world, Yamba Road, which is frequently cut by floodwaters during flood events.

This is what Micalo Island looked like from the air in early April 2021, still covered in water even when the lower Clarence River was no longer in flood.

Micalo Island seen from the south
Photograph supplied

It will come as no surprise to readers who have experienced the collective madness of coastal developers, to discover that this island is seen as having largescale urban development potential.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison states that net zero emissions will be achieved through technology and "the animal spirits of our business community". I rather thought it was those very same animal spirits which had been globally polluting our atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution began in the 1700s

 

On 19 April 2021 at the Business Council of Australia Annual Dinner Prime Minister Scott Morrison informed the world that; “We are going to meet our ambitions with the smartest minds, the best technology and the animal spirits of our business community. We need to change our energy mix over the next 30 years on that road to net zero emissions…..It will be achieved by the pioneering entrepreneurialism and innovation of Australia’s industrial workhorses, farmers and scientists.

It will be won in places like the Pilbara, the Hunter, Gladstone, Portland, Whyalla, Bell Bay, the Riverina. In the factories of our regional towns and outer suburbs. In the labs of our best research institutes and scientists. It will be won in our energy sector. In our industrial sector. In our ag sector. In our manufacturing sector. That’s how you get to net zero.

It would appear that his first step on this journey is to make a token investment in ‘clean’ energy by way of $539 million in funding for new projects involving hydrogen product and capture & storage, which will apparently be fuelled by both black and brown coal – thereby increasing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions Australia releases into the atmosphere.

This folly was pointed out by ABC News on 21 April 2021:

Getting hydrogen into a pure, useable form takes a lot of energy and this process can produce a lot of emissions.

And so, that is why experts talk about different types of hydrogen — brown, black, grey, blue and green.

Only "green" hydrogen is produced entirely through renewable power and has zero emissions. The others use electricity made by coal (black or brown) or gas (grey), sometimes with carbon capture and storage (blue).

The Government call its hydrogen plans "clean" — a combination of hydrogen from gas and renewables.

The Climate Council says the term is "misleading" for average Australians.

Its website states: "Proponents of fossil-fuelled hydrogen have used this to describe fossil fuel hydrogen linked to carbon capture and storage, as well as renewably sourced hydrogen."

"Only the variety of hydrogen generated with renewables … belongs in our zero emissions future."….

The government insists real progress is being made on CCS technology.

However, many climate scientists believe, when it comes to fossil-fuel energy production, CCS is not a serious alternative to wind and solar power.

Some, like the Climate Council, see it as an attempt to prolong the use of fossil fuels.

"The Gorgon CCS trial has been a big, expensive failure. It is capturing less than half the emissions needed to make CCS viable," the Climate Council's website states.

"CCS is extremely expensive and cannot deliver zero emissions."

"There are still no successful projects operating anywhere in the world."

While The Guardian on April 2021 published these telling quotes:

Harry Guinness, a former Liberal adviser and chief executive of the centre-right thinktank the Blueprint Institute, said the US was planning to spend about 35 times what Australia allocated in the last federal budget on green stimulus, and the government would need to commit to serious finance if Australia was to make a transition to net zero by 2050 as Scott Morrison has said is his preference…..

“Our friends and allies are going to want to see tangible commitments. They’ve been quite clear about that, it’s no mystery,” Guinness said. “If we are in the game of bringing technologies down the cost curve we need finance and incentives, including pricing carbon. Actions speak louder than words.”

Tony Wood, the Grattan Institute’s energy program director, said there was little detail in what the government had announced on Wednesday, making it hard to assess, but that Australia was spending significantly less on hydrogen than some other countries.

He said Australia was also offering support for hydrogen made with fossil fuels where others were backing “green hydrogen” made with renewable energy only.

“I don’t see any evidence that Australia has developed positions that are leading the world,” he said…..

Announcing the funding on Wednesday, Morrison said hydrogen was “zero emissions gas”.

The Greens said as the government planned to support hydrogen made with fossil fuels as well as renewable energy its commitment was “just more cash for coal and gas”. The party’s leader, Adam Bandt, said it paled next to multibillio-dollar green hydrogen commitments by other countries including South Korea, Germany, Spain, France, Japan and Saudi Arabia.

“This government’s obsession with coal and gas is about to cost Australia as other countries invest heavily in green hydrogen, giving them the edge as future markets open up,” Bandt said. “With all our wind and sunshine, this is Australia’s competitive advantage to seize, but it is being lost.”…..

Richie Merzian, the Australia Institute’s climate and energy program director, said it appeared the government was “once again using climate action to support fossil fuel companies”. He said that under current commitments it was possible by 2030 the US would have halved its emissions and the UK cut its emissions by two-thirds but Australia was sitting on a 26% cut while still subsidising fossil fuels…..

I was talking to a public servant climate policy in his portfolio the other day who said 'at least when we were in enviro (dept) we felt like climate policy might relate vaguely to the environment. Now we're just the department for coal and gas. No ones even pretending anymore '

— Polly Hemming (@pollyjhemming) April 21, 2021

Morrison must think the Australian electorate and every OECD government around the world are so monumentally stupid as to not realise that these announcements (and their lack of detail, fuzzy timelines or no guaranteed funding) are solely for the benefit of US President Joe Biden 's two-day virtual Leaders Summit which began on 22 April 2021, with a weather eye out for the twelve-day UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) to be held in Glasgow during November 2021.

By the time all his half-promises and evasions concerning zero emissions have failed to meet the 2050 target date, Scott Morrison will be 81 years of age and I will be long dead - having lived all my life in a country which only genuinely attempted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for six short years between June 2007 to September 2013.

Former NSW Minister & Liberal MLA John Sidoti due to give evidence at ICAC public hearing again today

Yesterday 21 April 2021 was Day 16 of NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) public hearings in the investigation into allegations concerning Liberal MLA for Drummoyne, John Sidoiti (left), who stood down as state Minister for Sport, Multiculturalism, Seniors and Veterans on 3 March 2021 and is currently sitting on the crossbenches as an Independent while the investigation continues.

Sidoti who has been a government member of the NSW Legislative Assembly for the last 10 years is giving evidence before the Operation Witney Public Inquiry again today.

Sidoti was referred to ICAC in September 2019. At that time on his Disclosures By Members form he listed in six properties as co-owned with his wife and another in which he held a 10 per cent interest reportedly valued at 11.5 million. The Sidoti family property portfolio is said to have a potential value of $41.4 million. On 24 October 2019 the Daily Telegraph reported that he had updated his disclosure form to add another property in which he had an interest.

Transcripts of inquiry proceeding to date can be found at:

https://www.icac.nsw.gov.au/investigations/current-investigations/2021/nsw-state-member-for-drummoyne-operation-witney/nsw-state-member-for-drummoyne-allegations-concerning-improper-influence-and-breach-of-public-trust-operation-witney

BACKGROUND

NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), media release, 26 March 2021:

MEDIA ALERT: Public inquiry into allegations concerning John Sidoti MP starts Monday

The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption’s (ICAC) Operation Witney public inquiry into allegations concerning the State Member for Drummoyne, John Sidoti MP, will start next Monday, 29 March 2021 at 10:00 am.

The Commission is investigating allegations that, between 26 March 2011 and 6 February 2018, Mr Sidoti improperly influenced another person, or persons, to dishonestly or partially exercise any of their official functions in respect of: advancing amendments to development controls affecting land between Second Avenue and Barnstaple Road on Waterview Street, Five Dock; and/or any rezoning of the land and/or any proposals to develop the land situated at 120, 122 and 124 Great North Road, Five Dock, and 2 Second Avenue, Five Dock.

The Commission is also examining whether, between 30 June 2011 and 30 June 2019, Mr Sidoti engaged in a breach of public trust by failing to make a number of pecuniary interest disclosures contrary to his obligations to do so under the Constitution (Disclosures by Members) Regulation 1983, the NSW Parliament Code of Conduct for Members and the Ministerial Code of Conduct.

As the ICAC is committed to maintaining a COVID-safe workplace, and has limited space to be able to adequately accommodate members of the media and the public, the Commission’s premises will not be open to members of the media and the public for the public inquiry. However, a pool camera and sound operator will be permitted to film and record the opening address (see the media guidelines for more information).

The Commission will live stream the proceedings via its website www.icac.nsw.gov.au, and will post exhibits (provided they are not subject to non-publication orders), transcripts and witness lists. Updates will also be provided via the ICAC Twitter account (@nswicac).

ICAC Chief Commissioner the Hon Peter Hall QC will preside at the public inquiry, which is expected to continue for four weeks. Counsel Assisting the Commission will be Rob Ranken of Counsel.

A witness list for the first week is attached. Please note that witness lists are subject to change. For further information, please refer to the Operation Witney public inquiry media guidelines.

Credit: John Sidoti image at top of this post was found at ABC News, 21 April 2021.

Messaging in new Morrison Government-funded high school consent videos seem confused and often focussed on perpetrator’s feelings and continuing in an unhealthy relationship.

Snapshot from "Stop Ask Listen" 3 minute video

Tacos, milkshakes, popcorn, a brave male & cowardly sharks, as well as a very aggressive young woman, are all found in Morrison Government's initial publicly released four short videos for high school students 15 to 18 years of age on the subject of ‘respect in relationships’.

Highschool students are being told that to be human means wanting "food, money, power and love" (in that order).

The webpage and training videos appear to have been created by Interactive Animation Pty Ltd of Queensland, trading as Liquid Interactive, at a cost to the taxpayer of est. $3.79 million.

The "Moving the Line" video mentioned in the article below, along with another video "Yes No I Don't Know", were removed from the federal government website https://www.thegoodsociety.gov.au/playlists/the-field-model sometime before midday on 20 April 2021.

 Leaving only two example videos visible on the website, along with what appears to be an extensive hidden video playlist for public school teachers. What distorted messages do those hidden videos send to Australia's children?

Crikey, 19 April 2021:

A bizarre educational video for students in Years 10-12 suggests maintaining relationships even after disrespectful behaviours are called out.

A new government video designed to teach consent to Year 10-12 students is as damaging as it is bizarre. With a focus on the perpetrator’s feelings and “maintaining” an unhealthy relationship, the video echoes the arguments of men’s rights activists and fundamentalist Christians.

The Good Society is a new resource for “teaching respectful relationships in schools” as part of the Australian government’s Respect Matters program, featuring content for primary, middle and senior school-aged kids.

One video, titled “Moving the Line”, designed to teach Year 10-12 students about consent, stands out as being particularly strange. Overtly sexual without ever using sexual references, the video features a young teen named Veronica apologising for smearing milkshake cream all over her boyfriend Bailey’s face.

The decision to make a female the perpetrator of sexual violence is also a strange one: men’s rights activists often argue sexual violence is gender-neutral though 97% of sexual violence is perpetrated by men.

Instead of discussing consent in terms of bodily autonomy — which I’m sure teens on the cusp of paying taxes and reaching adulthood would be able to grasp — the video uses drinking milkshakes, eating pizza and “touching your butt” as examples of encounters that require consent.

More worrying still, the video has a perverse focus on maintaining relationships even when Bailey finds it disrespectful.

(The Morrison government has, against all expert advice, previously advocated victims of domestic violence sit down and talk out their issues in the presence of a couples counsellor with no training in family violence. $10 million was set aside for couples counselling. Of the groups invited to participate, a large proportion are faith-based.)

This ultimately downplays the victim’s experience and can put power back in the hands of the abuser, creating an illusion of shared responsibility for the violence......

The Guardian, 19 April 2021: 

Rape prevention and sexual education experts have criticised the federal government’s new consent education campaign, accusing it of creating “bizarre” videos and spreading misinformation about sex and consent. 

The Good Society website, launched as part of the Department of Education’s Respect Matters program, contains more than 350 videos, digital stories, podcasts and teaching materials to help teach sex and consent to school-age children.... 

The director of End Rape on Campus, Sharna Bremner, warned that the videos fail to meet the national standards for the prevention of sexual assault through education. She added that the videos are “bizarre” and “really trivialise an incredibly serious issue”. 

“This resource doesn’t give young people enough credit,” she told Guardian Australia. “It undermines their intelligence. It underestimates what they already know, and I wonder if anyone involved in it has ever met a 17-year-old boy. 

“It assumes that the problem is that people don’t know what consent is, not that they ignore it. Kids aged 15 to 18 are the most likely to be victims of sexual violence, and also perpetrators of sexual violence. So we need to be giving them correct information.” 

Dr Jacqui Hendriks, a sexual health academic at Curtin University, said the videos skirted around the issue of sex and consent. 

“Trying to talk about sex without actually talking about sex isn’t helpful,” she said. “We need to be specifically talking about consent in an intimate and sexual relationship.” 

The videos are built around a concept called “the field model”. Students are shown an image resembling a football field to explain how shared decisions are made. 

Bremner said neither she, nor other rape prevention experts she has spoken to, had heard of the field model. 

“The only thing I can find on it is that it is a communication theory created by a public relations expert to do with communication in the workplace,” she said. “This is not a theory based in anything to do with sex, consent or relationships.”.....