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Nationals firebrand Barnaby Joyce has launched a fresh attack on emissions trading, drawing parallels between environmentalists and Nazis.
- Nationals MP attacks environmental claims
- Eco-totalitarianism claim
- ‘Blind obedience’ expectations wrong
Senator Joyce warned of the rise of “eco-totalitarianism” and said he would not be “goosestepping” along with them.
The federal government plans to start emissions trading in 2010 to reduce carbon pollution and take up the fight against climate change.
“The idea that this scheme can go forward and no one’s allowed to question because there’s a new form of eco-totalitarianism that demands blind obedience, I think that is wrong,” the Nationals Senate leader told ABC Radio this morning.
“One has to fall into lockstep, goosestep and parade around the office ranting and raving that we are all as one?”
Senator Joyce rejected a suggestion he was a climate change denier and drew a parallel with the Holocaust, the murder of millions of Jews and others by the Nazis during World War II.
“Climate change denier, like Holocaust denier, this is the sort of emotive language that has become stitched up in this (emissions trading) issue.”
He said emissions trading would put Australians out of their homes and out of jobs, and do nothing to counter climate change.
Senator Joyce’s stance raises the possibility of a coalition split, with Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull yet to announce a position on emissions trading.
Some within the coalition support taking action on climate change, while others share Senator Joyce’s reservations.
The government needs the support of the coalition to pass its scheme through the Senate, or it will have to rely on the Greens and independents, a prospect not welcomed by the business lobby.
Liberal frontbencher Joe Hockey later said the federal opposition would not walk away from emissions trading, despite the concerns of the Nationals.
“Malcolm [Turnbull] was the original architect of the emissions trading scheme, he’s not going to walk away from it, I can tell you,” Mr Hockey told Fairfax Radio.
Mr Turnbull, as environment minister in the Howard government, started work on an emissions trading scheme.
Senator Joyce could not be stopped from going out and saying things, Mr Hockey said.
“You can’t always be accountable for members of your family. There is a view out there that Barnaby is representing, but it’s not my view,” he said.
Government frontbencher Tony Burke criticised Senator Joyce’s “extreme” comments, especially references to the Nazi regime.
“I’d be amazed if even Malcolm Turnbull is willing to tolerate that sort of language,” he told Sky News.
Australia had a lot to lose from global climate change and should be part of the solution, Mr Burke said.
AAP
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