Meltdown #21: Social U-Turn
Rushing a climate deal with just five minutes to go
That Scott can take to the world summit in Glasgow
Not a moment too soon
It’s the last chance saloon
The road to Damascus with the whole world on show
Even News Corp papers purport to have gone green
But their front-page U-turns seem somewhat obscene
A sudden epiphany
From their climate tyranny
Makes one wonder where the hell have they been
The Business Council’s also coming on board
In response to shareholders’ vocal discord
A dose of reality
After years of duality
World capital markets cannot be ignored
But are these new climate warriors following their heart
Or will they soon be back tearing us apart
Just how do we adjust
And treat them with trust
Why didn’t they take this position from the start?
Are we finally emerging from the ratbag rear row
With the portents of a pivot towards net-zero
Or a fake resurrection
Just to call an election
And send Scott to Glasgow as a climate hero
Are these latest platitudes just tokenistic tripe
Can this coal addicted government really change its stripes
Like have we just witnessed
Their typical self-interest
With News Corp just fanning their election hype?
We are right to be skeptical of the fossil fuel miners
The big party donors and the oil refiners
Are they climate committed
Or reluctantly submitted
To the growing bandwagon of greenwash survivors?
Yet Scott needs net-zero or his reputation is shot
After bungling COVID, it’s all that he’s got
Authority withering
Dogged by dithering
Over vaccines, fires, respect for women, the lot
He’ll take credit for bowling Sydney’s lockdown over
Getting them back to the bars, all-over red rover
Celebrating Freedom Day
Picnic rugs thrown away
While Melbourne still waits for the end of October
Scott will tell voters he put the economy first
Pushing for border restrictions to be reversed
Deny vaccine failure
Become the COVID saviour
He’ll blame Labor Premiers for our lockdown curse
A thousand new health workers recruited from overseas
To bolster Melbourne’s fight against this disease
Desperately leveraging
Hospitals from haemorrhaging
And prepare for peak patients when restrictions ease
While Victoria has had its highest death tally
Vaccination rates rise and continue to rally
But brain farting Dan
The unmasked man
Fined for breaking the rules that the rest of us carry
But as we finish the week, it’s time for reflection
Will agreement be reached on new climate direction
With National Party legions
Demanding jobs for the regions
As promises they will take to the looming election
Many of us will treat net zero with suspicion
Unless Scott invests in economic transition
With commitment targets
In his Glasgow basket
And legislated policies, not feigned ambition
So after all these years with our planet on slow burn
Are these political games …. or a genuine U turn
An end of the climate wars
With new environmental laws
Or after COP and the election ….. will the battle lines return?
Kevin Holmes • 15th October 2021
