Few MPs would have worked harder to defend their seats at this election than Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull, whose blue ribbon Sydney seat of Wentworth is under siege not just from Labor but a range of environmental activists, mostly coalescing around the Greens.
But in the second week of the campaign, Mr Turnbull found the time to announce that the Government, already in caretaker mode, would bankroll to the tune of $10 million the investigation of an untried Russian technology that aims to trigger rainfall from the atmosphere, even when there are no clouds.
ABC News: 'Turnbull pumps $10m into rainmaking gamble'
From the deck of the research ship Weatherbird II, a California company hopes to prove a controversial theory that putting iron dust in the ocean can produce enough plankton to help save the Earth.
The mission of the company behind the ship, Planktos Corp, is to research whether "iron seeding," or "iron enrichment" - dumping tons of pulverised iron ore into the ocean - can catalyse the growth of microscopic algae that will then suck carbon out of the atmosphere.
ABC News: 'Iron touted as tonic for climate-saving plankton'
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says Australia will be pushing for a declaration on climate change at a meeting of Asian nations in Singapore.
Jennifer: “Paul has been awfully kind to post your few scraps (Luke). Surely the big news in Australia is the election THIS SATURDAY and the upcoming UN meeting in Bali. There is also the drought” …
We had a long discussion a few threads back on the history of cloud seeding in Australia and the head of the most successful Tasmanian rainmaking program was on TV commenting on this latest Turnbull maneuver.
More on the home front and the “Universities Climate Consortium”, Dr Jim Peacock and the assessment panel.
“Chubb defies climate rebuff”-
Headlines in the Canberra Times today where an exclusive article claims “ANU will now push ahead with ambitious plans to establish a world class facility” (national climate change centre). This effort to pool scientists from various departments seems to defy the wishes of our current federal Environment Minister who announced just last week new funding for such places as the Gold Coast instead.
Elections distort thinking in some quarters.
The other good news is it rained again overnight and continues to rain across the ACT.
Arnost: “It seems to me that none of the political parties is trying to win the mind of the voter. They are above all else trying to win over the media. If you listen to all the speeches in totality, you will see the same topical "warm-fuzzy" repeated over and over. I guess this is in the hope that one of the iterations will be judged good enough to make that 10 second vox-pop on the news, and that the media will then have to put context around it and so have to digest and regurgitate your key point (which is elaborated in the media handout) - and hopefully without too much distortion”
Hmmm; as one who is also constantly trying to influence outcomes I suggest the less experienced voter can still get satisfaction knowing their No 1 vote helps any reasonable candidate with their $2 something electoral reimbursement. Sure, the parties flog the media with stuff designed to break through a hardened front regards their political promises but we can all call the tune behind the “Media” scene too.
I spent a long time this week organizing car hire for the holidays. In the end, I rang each likely depot as the dyo www calculators are unreliable with issues like peak time rates in reality ie, New Year’s Day at a most popular destination. Parties, candidates and policies are about as likely to deliver exact needs as the common calculator. Dyo Tax is a good example. So I get on the phone often. I hope you recognize some of my points in recent announcements. How (if) they get implemented is a good question though.
Back to candidates: A lady on ABC radio talkback today who was a toddler during the last great war recalled standing for the Communist Party as a youngster because no one else would and go two votes for her troubles. I recall they wouldn’t negotiate back then.
Listening to the electorate is just one good point, and any good candidate also needs the gift of the gab to get their message across, party polices or otherwise. Somebody once told me it’s about being sharp standing and shouting off your toes.
More food for thought: I chat to them all given half a chance.
Reminds me of Joh funding the car that ran on water. That was a riot.