A question about climate change/global warming.

A BBC report on the fires gets a lot of info into five minutes. There;s no doubt that the BBC has been weakened and the news operations stacked with tories, but the LNP governments have gutted funding for the Australian equivalent, the ABC, over the last 18 years, and followed their re-election in May by having feds raid journalists' homes and enter the ABC headquarters with a warrant allowing them to access or delete any content on servers, from workers' emails arranging lunch, to the entire library of broadcast programmes and news rushes.

Shortly after his election, Scott Morrison raised the pay of his personal staff in the Prime Minster's Office. Unlike most public servants, they're on close to $200,000 a year.

Two weeks ago, because the public service is a waste of money, he abolished the federal Arts department, and the Department of Education.

14 months ago, a schoolgirl put a needle in a strawberry and told her friends at school that she had bought it like that from the supermarket. Morrison rushed to television and parliament to impose a penalty of 15 years gaol for putting needles in strawberries.

On multiple occasions this week, the staff in the Prime Minister's Office have refused to state whether the PM is in the country, refused to confirm if the Acting Prime Minister is Acting Prime Minister in Morrison's theoretical absence, refused to tell journalists where he is generally, stated outright that he is not in Hawaii, and claimed that he was already on a flight home.

Somehow, Australians on holiday in Hawaii have managed to pose with the man who launched the "Where The Bloody Hell Are You?" international tourism campaign advertising Australia ten years ago, here attempting to throw a shaka, but actually making the "bong on" hand symbol.

https://i.imgur.com/VYhWJbs.jpg

When journalists have contacted the PMO to point out that they are lying to the citizenry of the country about the leader of the country, they have received text messages saying "sorry you were offended."

Heading for two days after his promise (on the very formal method of addressing the country, Facebook product Instagram,) to return as soon as could be arranged, it turns out that apparently Qantas and Jetstar and Fiji Airways and Hawaiian Airlines and Air New Zealand and the Australian military have all shut down worldwide operations, as he was photographed three hours ago in a Waikiki hotel:

https://i.imgur.com/YbIxGAP.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/HbiyYug.jpg

Also Waikiki has seceded from Hawaii? Google Maps hasn't updated yet.

Members of the government have argued that it actually doesn't matter if the leader of the country isn't in the country while the country is on fire, because firefighters are the ones who do the work and Scott deserves a rest. Morrison himself has stated that just getting updates from his staff in his mystery undisclosed location that definitely isn't Hawaii is fine, because "I don’t hold a hose, I don’t sit in a control room.”

Somehow, despite not piloting a marine vessel or being a concentration camp guard or paying people smugglers out of his own pocket or personally cutting refugees heads off with a machete, while Immigration Minister he awarded himself this trophy, which he still keeps on his desk as PM:

https://i.imgur.com/AmZzA3u.png

Denial is going to become politically untenable any SECOND now, I can just feel it.

five weeks so far that the state of New South Wales has been at "catastrophic fire danger"

nb: this level had to be added above 'extreme' in 2009.

Of course, the Rural Fire Service is not funded at a level where they have been able to replace the actual warning signs in the last decade. At least the danger level was only at "Very High" in this location, so it didn't matter:

https://i.imgur.com/l4oOtXa.jpg

how is this playing politically?

Members of the government have argued that it actually doesn't matter if the leader of the country isn't in the country while the country is on fire

The Acting Prime Minister told the protestors... well, told reporters elsewhere - that they are "wasting your time" and should "Go and donate your time to Meals on Wheels and something like that."

And the Foreign Minister said it was right to not cancel or cut short his secret holiday because "his family [...] have no choice in the matter as to when they are able to spend time with their husband and their father."

it actually doesn't matter if the leader of the country isn't in the country while the country is on fire

apparently true

It definitely would have done more good for the current situation if he had been out of the country for the last ten years, than this week.

how is this playing politically?

It's hard to parse what the longer term impacts of this will be, but my perspective is that it seems to be absolutely tanking Morrison's public image, which let's face it, was the main thing he had going for him in the eyes of your average politically apathetic Australian. His ability to present himself (or for the Murdoch press to present him) as "an authentic everyday, knockabout bloke, just like you!" was a big part in getting the Liberals over the line (see: that horrific Quiet Australians report on the ABC), but the unbelievable lack of leadership and care for his country and its people that he's shown throughout this crisis over the last couple of months is exposing him as the gutless fraud that he is.

For someone who is supposedly a marketing guru, he has made some of the worst 'image' choices you could possibly make in his situation. At best, all he'd have to do is flip a few sausages on a BBQ in the general vicinity of a few exhausted firefighters with his sleeves rolled up, and do literally NOTHING ELSE, and he'd maintain his image as a "down to earth, good bloke". But he has failed spectacularly; he is even extremely bad at the things he is supposedly extremely good at.

I assume he doesn't want to visit the fires or firefighters because he might get asked again, on camera, about climate change.

worth a scroll through the replies on this Member Of Parliament's tweet

https://i.imgur.com/UEFMLbu.jpg

This is the highway leading out of Canberra, the capital of Australia, to the south coast.

https://i.imgur.com/KUUv5sv.jpg

Don't worry, the politicians all went home for a few months earlier this month, after postponing the bill that allows you to verbally attack gay, trans, and brown people in the street, or deny them medical attention, or refuse to serve them in shops, or exclude them from jobs.


Here are the roads out of Sydney, at the start of this Christmas holiday getaway season. Red lines are blocked by fire.

https://i.imgur.com/MBfrGG0.jpg

Pyrocumulonimbus systems have formed above fires in three regions.

https://i.imgur.com/7PAvRse.jpg

This means, effectively, "dry" thunderstorms - high, unpredictable winds and lightning striking more dried-out brush and trees, moving heat and fire and smoke faster and further, without rain.

Rain has started in some areas, though! Here are black raindrops on Callala Beach.

https://i.imgur.com/2pib3t5.jpg



A Senator from the majority Government party knows what the real problem is, though: the Bureau Of Meteorology has changed the historical records of temperature to put forward a fake "global warming agenda." He can be confident of this because "I’ve got a background in system accounting where I’ve changed records.”

He made this claim before his election in May, and restated it on television this week. Maybe in 2025 we'll find out that denial is no longer politically viable, if he doesn't get re-elected? *makes note to check whether any summers are scheduled between now and then*

Two weeks of the fires, seen from space.

2016-2018's Deputy Prime Minister shouts, visibly shitfaced, into his phone camera / at some clouds / near some cows that of course climate change is happening but god will murder us all if we have the audacity to try to fix it through taxes.

Fifteen years into his job being the government, his salary from the government being $190k, receiving an international travel allowance from the government, having private health care provided by the government, receiving drought relief subsidies from the government for his farm, and on track to get a lifetime pension of c. $150k if he retires in two years at age 55... he's had enough of the government being in his life, and therefore the government should do nothing to ameliorate climate change. Also, feel sorry for him because his cattle are dying, in the drought that he says proves climate change is real.

The pan up to the clouds to prove where God is might be the best part of the 45-second video, or it might be the streak of birdshit on his head.

Wait, that's the prime minister and he doesn't want government in his life, he's sick of government in his life?

https://i.imgur.com/qQh4CkA.png

^ infuriating

Wait, that's the prime minister

(this post unrelated to climate change denial)

no, Barnaby was Acting Prime Minister on occasions when the Prime Minister was overseas or on leave between February 2016 and February 2018

except that in October 2017, the High Court expelled him from government as it turned out that he was a citizen of another country and ineligible to stand for election, and had been illegitimately acting as a minister for the two months since New Zealand had confirmed his status. He re-entered on a by-election in December after renouncing his NZ citizenship.

then in February 2018 he was acting as Acting Prime Minister when he was replaced due to having impregnated a staffer, and his office having made a $5,000 dollar donation to a local businessman that was paying the rent on an apartment where Barnaby and the staffer were living while Barnaby's wife and four children remained in the family home

(the country had taken a non-binding postal survey on the issue of same-sex marriage equality while Barnaby was briefly out of government three months earlier; he had campaigned for a "no" vote on the grounds that it would be damaging to his family. at the time it was not publicly known outside the government that he had spoofed up an employee.)

After being removed from the role - which cut his pay from $416,000 back to $190k - he argued in the press that as he wasn't with the staff member all the time that maybe the baby wasn't his, someone else could have got in there while he wasn't looking. Subsequently, since accepting paternity, he has repeatedly proposed changing parliamentary rules to make it legal to employ your partner or relatives.

Barnaby identifies as a Roman Catholic.

It's getting to where outright denial is becoming politically untenable and I'm convinced that they long ago mapped out their future strategy of morphing from 'it isn't happening' to 'it's too late to do anything about it/it doesn't matter what we do cause China and India'.

Barnaby is an object lesson in workarounds of denialism.

In 2012, he said "It is an indulgent and irrelevant debate because, even if climate change turns out to exist one day, we will have absolutely no impact on it whatsoever … we really should have bigger fish to fry than this one."

In 2015, he affirmed to a right-wing radio host and columnist that he was "always sceptical" of the idea that "anybody's going to change the environment".

In April 2016, during two days of showing a journalist and photographer around the effects of extended drought on his parents' 2000-ha farm, he observed "When I look at this," shaking his head, "I start to wonder whether climate change might really be happening."

In December 2019, it's absolutely happening, but God wants it to happen and will kill us if we try and save our own lives.

Fires are now approaching the capital city of a fourth state. An area half the size of Belgium has been advised to evacuate immediately, before tomorrow.

https://i.imgur.com/iMkopKL.jpg

Due to the loss of disinfection infrastructure through the impact of fire within the Brogo River water supply catchment, Bega Valley Shire Council has introduced a Boil Water Notice.

This Boil Water Notice applies to Quaama, Cobargo, Bermagui, Beauty Point, Fairhaven, Wallaga Lake, Wallaga Lake Heights, Wallaga Lake Koori Village and Akolele, as well as trunk main customers in these areas.

It is not safe to consume the water. All water for drinking, food preparation, the cleaning of teeth and ice-making needs to be boiled before use. Water can then be allowed to cool and stored in a clean container with a lid and refrigerated. Dishes should be washed in hot soapy water or in a dishwasher.

Council will advise residents through local media, Council's website and Facebook page when the boil water notice is lifted.

The Emergency Services Minister for NSW has gone on holiday to France for an undisclosed period of time, while new fires continue to start.

Meanwhile, in Victoria, "The incident controller of the Gippsland fires said he could not confirm whether lives or property had been lost in massive fires that burned through East Gippsland overnight, because it was so hot they had to ground their infra-red tracking plane.

"And he said the beachside town of Mallacoota, where 4,000 tourists and locals are on the foreshore being protected by firefighters, is expected to be hit by fire this morning. Chris Eagle, from the department of environment, land, water and planning, said the fires grew about 60% in size overnight."

Here's a video from some guy at Mallacoota who moved the New Year's party offshore until the town finishes burning.

On land:

My cousin, a forestry professional, spent all night fighting fires east of Tallangatta. He sent this photo to the family group chat #Walwa #vicfires #AustralianFires #Australiabushfires https://t.co/VG3Yrg3jPX pic.twitter.com/FCNOxlqULI

— Declan Kuch (@agentdeclan) December 31, 2019

In the water:

Earlier this morning in Mallacoota.

"A mother took this photo. Her two primary school aged sons are in the boat with her. They're out on the Mallacoota lake trying to stay safe from fire, it doesn't look like it but it's daytime." - @ABCGippsland pic.twitter.com/WVi1Mz8dTz

— Sean Power (@seanpowerAU) December 31, 2019

apocalyptic

jesus that eerie filtered light, it's like you imagine ancient extinction events.

we’re bringing back extinction events for the 2020s baby!!1!

Humanity is going out in style, that's for sure!

I've got this book by an oxford professor of geology on the causes and history of extinction events. The cover illustration with desolate landscape, a couple of dying desert trees and a glowing sky. It is probably supposed to be either the Permian or Jurrassic "post-apocalyptic greenhouses". Don't need silly fantasy illustrations - it's here!

you

uh

you love to see it?

*closes thread, tries very hard not to think about the future*

he could not confirm whether lives or property had been lost in massive fires that burned through East Gippsland overnight, because it was so hot they had to ground their infra-red tracking plane

kinda showing up the paucity of George Miller's imagination here

Mad Max 2 was made in 1981, he's looking alright for prognostication of societal and environmental collapse due to an unstoppably destructive fossil fuel policy imo

Visual imagination I meant to say

Fury Road was written around 2004, with its "don't get addicted to water, it'll make you weak" government. Two weeks ago the Queensland state government announced a plan to bill farmers $100,000 apiece to install water monitors on their dried-out riverbeds.

Two and a half years ago, the same government gave the Adani coal mine permission to divert unlimited water from rivers and farms' groundwater for their own purposes for a period of sixty years, while 90% of the state was already 5 years into drought.

hey, if Warner Brothers weren't still refusing to pay him for making Fury Road, he could be out there shooting B-roll right now. Amortise the costs of paying him his contractual rights against the special FX savings.

imperator furiosa we need u now more than ever

tbc I wasn't knocking Miller so much as praising the spectacular visual effects of the actual apocalypse

oh yeah I get it, just being mordant since I rewatched Max 2 recently and was reminded how campaigners, scientists and popular fiction in Australia have been predicting these outcomes for forty solid years

It's easy to think of girdle-clad and artificially-coloured Immortan Joe with his two scheming, deadshit failsons as Trumpian now. But, say, this bloke was Minister For Local Government And Main Roads in Queensland* for 13 years and diverted a motorway so that an exit would go past a bottle-o (off-licence / liquor store) that he owned:

https://i.imgur.com/GoyMPI4.jpg

* and concurrently held portfolios as Minister For Racing (ie horse gambling) (he was also a professional breeder) for seven years and Minister For Police for two. Oddly, he resigned during statewide corruption enquiries that lasted a couple of years in the late '80s.

This is good content sic, especially the geopolitical specificity of MM (which is clear in the movies tbf)

That dude looks even more like a Mad Max monster in the tiny pic on my phone

"diverted a motorway so that an exit would go past a bottle-o (off-licence / liquor store) that he owned"

really tickled me did this, almost like the guy! (but obv not really)

visual one for Noodle:

The crew from Fire and Rescue NSW Station 509 Wyoming recorded this video showing the moment their truck was overrun by the bushfire burning South of Nowra. The crew was forced to shelter in their truck as the fire front passed through. #NSWFires #ProtectTheIrreplaceable pic.twitter.com/Hb0yVrefi9

— Fire and Rescue NSW (@FRNSW) December 31, 2019

how campaigners, scientists and popular fiction in Australia have been predicting these outcomes for forty solid years

Mark Colvin was mocked and attacked by Murdoch goons like Andrew Bolt for 'believing the new pagan religion' after airing warnings like this, back in 2003.

MT @Colvinius Will climate change mean more catastrophic bushfires for Australia? @Raf_Epstein https://t.co/hfpD0PuGcI

— Alt-Rupert (@TheMurdochTimes) December 31, 2019

all seems good and normal. jfc

i'm sure entire land masses going on fire is just a normal function of periodic climate change. maybe sunspots or something.

according to my father in law this is just a normal cycle

we should have a sweep on what percentage of the world has to be fucked before climate change deniers admit the vague possibility that this isn't "normal"

in geologic time lots of major cities being under 100 ft water was just "a normal part of the cycle", but hey let's not be in too much of rush to get there!

Australia is seven minutes from starting the second month of summer. Totally normal cycle for beachside towns to be wiped out after five months of fires, at this stage every year.