Hall of shame on climate action
Voting to reverse climate action: November 2013
Labor's Alannah McTiernan described Tony Abbott as "the Neville Chamberlain of the climate crisis"
The only problem with this analysis, is that it isn't harsh enough. Most historians accept, as both Winston Churchill and George Orwell did, that while Chamberlain disastrously, he at least acted honestly and honourably to the limits of his ability.
We can't, and won't, say the same for Tony Abbott: "weathervane on climate change" (his own words as reported by Malcolm Turnbull).
Here are the names of the crew who lined up behind him in Parliament to oppose climate action - including voting to abolish independent scrutiny through the Climate Change Authority, and investment in climate action through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
Some of these men and women certainly knew better. We can't say they acted even as well as Neville Chamberlain, either. All of them will have to explain to their descendants, as the consequences of their actions become clearer.
House of Representatives Hansard 21 November 2013
The SPEAKER (Bronwyn Bishop): Pursuant to the resolution agreed earlier, I now put the question that the Clean Energy Legislation (Carbon Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 and 10 related bills be now read a second time.
AYES:
Abbott, AJ | Alexander, JG | Andrews, KJ | Andrews, KL | Baldwin, RC | Billson, BF | Briggs, JE | Broad, AJ | Broadbent, RE Brough, MT | Buchholz, S (teller) | Chester, D | Christensen, GR | Ciobo, SM |Cobb, JK | Coleman, DB | Coulton, M (teller) | Dutton, PC | Entsch, WG | Fletcher, PW | Gambaro, T | Gillespie, DA | Goodenough, IR | Griggs, NL | Hartsuyker, L | Hawke, AG | Henderson, SM | Hendy, PW | Hockey, JB | Hogan, KJ | Howarth, LR | Hunt, GA | Hutchinson, ER | Irons, SJ Jensen, DG | Jones, ET | Joyce, BT | Katter, RC | Keenan, M | Laming, A |Landry, ML | Laundy, C | Ley, SP | Macfarlane, IE | Marino, NB | Markus, LE | Matheson, RG | McCormack, MF | McNamara, KJ Morrison, SJ | Nikolic, AA | O'Dowd, KD | O'Dwyer, KM | Pasin, A | Pitt, KJ | Porter, CC | Prentice, J | Price, ML | Pyne, CM | Ramsey, RE | Randall, DJ | Robert, SR | Roy, WB Ruddock, PM |Scott, BC | Scott, FM | Simpkins, LXL |Smith, ADH | Southcott, AJ | Stone, SN | Sudmalis, AE | Sukkar, MS | Taylor, AJ | Tehan, DT |Truss, WE | Turnbull, MB | Varvaris, N | Vasta, RX |Whiteley, BD | Wicks, LE | Williams, MP | Wilson, RJ | Wood, JP | Wyatt, KG
People who knew better
Labor's Dr Andrew Leigh in the same debate lists Liberal members (and even one National) who had spoken in favour of an Emissions Trading Scheme in the past: Tony Abbott himself; Ministers Julie Bishop, Joe Hockey, Greg Hunt, Ian Macfarlane, Scott Morrison, Christopher Pyne, Andrew Robb and Malcolm Turnbull; and members Jamie Briggs; Steve Ciobo, Paul Fletcher, Tess Gambaro, Luke Hartsuyker, Steve Irons, Andrew Laming, Susan Ley, Kellly O'Dwyer, Don Randall, Stuart Robert, Tony Smith, Andrew Southcott, Sharman Stone, and Alan Tudge.
A list of Members' and Senators' positions on the science of climate change (updated up to election 2013) is available online (external link, content not authored by LEAN but used with thanks) for comparison with their voting records.