According to Liberal frontbencher Eric Abetz, the Australian Greens Party is the “epitome of extremism”. Talk about the pot calling the kettle extremist.
Abetz was inspired to his alliterative epithet because a couple of Greens Senators, notably party leader Christine Milne, refused to condemn the anti-coal activist Jonathan Moylan, over a hoax which — for about 90 minutes, until it was discovered — decreased the value of Whitehaven Coal by more than $300 million on Monday.
It was the simplest of hoaxes. Moylan dummied up a press release, purporting to be from the ANZ Bank, saying it had withdrawn a $1.2 billion loan for a new coal mine.
(The trick, we might add, would not have had its effect if members of the financial media had bothered to check the veracity of Moylan’s fake press release before publishing stories.)
Milne described the hoax as being part of “a long and proud history of civil disobedience” in Australia.
This was, when you parse it, a pretty mild endorsement, more a statement of the bleeding obvious, really.
More importantly, Milne specifically denied any foreknowledge of the hoax. She also said “nobody is above the law”. She went on to draw the links between coal mining and climate change, and to question the ethics of those involved in mining or the funding of mining.
You can hear her whole argument, in context, here.
To be fair, we should note that another Greens Senator went further, in a tweet congratulating Moylan for “exposing ANZ investment in coal mines”.
But again, there is no evidence of direct involvement of the Greens party in the stunt.
But to Eric Abetz, this made the Greens “extremists” with “communist connections”.
“With the Greens,” he said, “it is always a case of the ends justifying the means.”
This all prompts a couple of observations.
Read the full article, with full hyperlinks, The Global Mail, here
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Comments (3)
As another poster pointed out elsewhere, the effect of the Moylan hoax was grossly exaggerated. In any event, it was not intrinsic value that was lost, but rather an amount that speculators were willing to expend on a morally and socially indefensible gamble.
John Hayward
A fair assessment of political extremism in Australia is Will Hodgman who has promised to tear up the Forest Accord and return to Reece-like natural asset rip up exploitation of Tasmania - mining, logging, fishing, you name it.
Then look at the austerity Libs in Queensland and their killing of the Reef and Darling Downs for Coal Seam Gas royalties!
Look at WA Liberal Premier Colin Barnett rough shodding over the Kimberley ecology and Indigneous owners for corporate offshore gas drilling to earn more state royalties.
Kim Jong Un and Benjamin Netanyahu carry on like this as if they are kings with only obedience subjects.
Look at Labor in Canberra!
As a charming as he is, the Honourable the Senator seems to be behaving like a cross between a human vegetable and Max Gillies. Bark raving mad, these people must be bark raving mad, as in moon-struck.
Someone somewhere said ‘People get the Government they deserve’. Well, I for one disagree, I didn’t vote for the senator, these people do not represent me or my views.
The best we can hope is the civilized members of The Australian Liberal Party can muster their members to topple the leader of the opposition and his cohort senator. replace them with the member for Wentworth and a fine looking sheila to get the numbers. Peter Cundall could take the senate seat,