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So here we are, Australia 2021: in the week @TurnbullMalcolm gets fired from the NSW Net Zero Emissions and Clean Economy Board by the coal lobby, Grant King and Susie Smith get appointed to the federal Climate Change Authority by the gas lobby 1/n https://www.afr.com/business/energy/grant-king-to-overhaul-the-climate-change-authority-20210408-p57hk4?btis
Kingâs personal carbon footprint, as a company CEO and lobbyist, is up there in Australiaâs all time hall of shame. His career is one of relentless pursuit of fossil fuels expansion and aggressive anti-climate lobbying 2/n
King was appointed as CEO of Origin Energy in 2000, on its demerger from Boral where heâd been MD since 1994. At Origin King presided over massive expansion into new reserves and fracking the shit out of Queensland. 3/n
As an aside, in a moment of professional humiliation, King was forced to resign from the BHP board before his first AGM after shareholders objected to his record of writedowns at Origin https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/grant-king-pays-dearly-for-origin-energy-missteps-20170828-gy5ct7 ) 4/n
OK enough with the gifs. Hereâs where it gets serious: Perhaps his most damaging âcontributionâ: King âserved as an APPEA Board Director for two decades and played an important role in guiding the development of APPEAâs policy and advocacy.â 5/n https://www.appea.com.au/all_news/appea-honours-grant-kings-outstanding-career/
. @APPEALtd is a ferocious advocate for oil and gas expansion and highly effective political operative. This graph is from a 2018 @adamlmorton piece on LNG. Look at the impact of *those two decades* 6/n https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/13/problem-in-waiting-why-natural-gas-will-wipe-out-australias-emissions-gains
King was president of the @BCAcomau during the time that it supported the repeal of the carbon tax and said a 45% national emissions reduction target by 2030 would be âeconomy wrecking) (thankfully under Tim Reed this stance has softened somewhat) 7/n https://twitter.com/bcacomau/status/1011414577702031361
In 2019, King as BCA president openly championed the use of Kyoto carry over credits. The Australian governmentâs insistence on using them at the 2019 global talks was described as âcheatingâ by Paris Agreement architect Laurence Tubiana 8/n
Tubiana went on to say that âAustralia was willing in a way to destroy the whole system, because that is the way to destroy the whole Paris agreement.â Good job, Australia. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/16/un-climate-talks-australia-accused-of-cheating-and-thwarting-global-deal 9/n
So yeah, here we are: the person perhaps most responsible for Australia's biggest, entirely avoidable, emissions problem (LNG) is now chairing the authority that is supposed to advise the government on climate science and policy. 10/n
Susie Smith also joins the authority, from the Australian Industry Greenhouse Network (AIGN), which has stymied Australian climate policy for three decades. They mostly lurk in the shadows, representing Australiaâs self described âgreenhouse mafiaâ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_Mafia 11/n
And howâs this for a carbon footprint? Prior to her appointment as CEO of AIGN in 2017, Smith sat on the APPEA Greenhouse committee, with King, for 12 years, as the rep of South Australian oil and gas producer, Narrabri fracker and subsidy-wanter @SantosLtd 12/n
What are the takeaways here? Morrisonâs government is not committed to decarbonisation and does not care about climate change. Thatâs nothing new. They do however care about signalling. And they are signalling to their mates in the gas industry that theyâve got their back 13/n
It is also about wanting to say on the global stage (in face of Biden pressure, COP26 etc) that âwe are working towards net zero by 2050!!!â and âhey! we are listening to our Climate Change Authority!!!â Yeah, itâs desperate. 14/n
The only way the LNP can get comfortable about saying they will act on the advice of the Climate Change Authority is by having the fossil fuel lobby running the authority, dictating the policy. 15/n
The âgas fired recoveryâ is *vulnerable*, my friends. People are seeing through it. So theyâre stacking the machinery of government. Itâs 100% grift. Huuuuge subsidies, ie life support, for a dying industry (the establishment of which is Kingâs lifeâs work! His legacy!) 16/n
What does this mean for us? Donât get distracted by the Climate Change Authority. Keep the pressure on. Itâs the end game for LNG. Theyâre no longer playing to win, just to delay. Every project, every drill site, every pipeline counts. Every tonne of carbon counts. 17/end
(Sorry for stuffing up the thread mid way through! Think it is all there now! tweets 1-17! Thanks for listening to my TED talk)
