Alan Jones: The Winds of Climate Change Are Here

There are no prizes for Mr. Albanese and Mr. Bowen strutting the world stage, telling the world what it should do and what they will do on climate change. 
Alan Jones: The Winds of Climate Change Are Here
Young climate activists sit outside the office of Tanya Plibersek, Minister for the Environment and Water in Sydney, Australia, on Nov. 17, 2023. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
Alan Jones
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For years now, I have been talking about the folly of this climate change hoax. 
Allegedly reducing carbon dioxide emissions when China’s carbon dioxide emissions increase annually by more than our total. 
There are no prizes for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen strutting the world stage, telling the world what it should do and what they will do on climate change. 
I might add, when you have a look at Burma, the Middle East, China, and Taiwan, the prime minister told NATO leaders last year that his government is, “not afraid to stand up against threats of peace and freedom whether in Europe or the Indo-Pacific." 
Someone wrote that for him. 
But today, the threats of Israeli peace, the only democracy in the Middle East, are met with an embarrassing silence. 
Rubbing shoulders with international leaders and telling them, “it will be through Australia’s actions that you will see our resolve." 
I wonder if Albo tells these glad-handers that not one of our services, Navy, Air Force, or Army has a strategic strike power. 
Does he tell them that every one of our major defence programs is in disarray or scheduled to deliver capability, so far into the future, that it is in the realm of science-fiction?
Does he tell him that we have no submarine program at all?
And if we don’t lease a submarine and continue to pretend that we can make them in Adelaide, we won’t get one before 2040, at the earliest. 
Last year, in Paris, our prime minister told 34 OECD Members, “I firmly believe we can solve the biggest challenges of our time while laying the groundwork for long-term economic security and shared prosperity." 
I said at the time that it was not punching above your weight but talking above your weight. 
Just look at the mess we are in. 
But Albo told 34 OECD Members, last year, that, “the fight against climate change must be at the heart of global cooperation; our goal is for Australia to be a renewable energy superpower." 
You might recall I suggested at the time that the prime ministerial plane was headed towards Amsterdam and to start mouthing all this climate change nonsense. 
At the time, Germany, under a Green Coalition, was firing up mothballed coal-fired generators because their dear old renewables couldn’t do the job. 
At the time, the Dutch government was talking this same nonsense on carbon dioxide emissions. 
When animals defecate, what hits the ground is full of nitrogen. 
The Dutch government planned to cut greenhouse gas nitrogen by as much as 70 percent and it was expecting farmers to achieve a 40 percent drop in emissions that would require 30 percent fewer cattle. 
That nonsense is on the agenda here. 
The Netherlands is the world’s second-largest agricultural exporter and their farmers were being targeted. 
You may recall thousands of tractor-driving farmers were demonstrating in the town of Stroe, east of Amsterdam, arguing, simply, that the future of farmers was being destroyed. 
Several hundred farmers demonstrate during the second stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race, 175 km between Bolduque and Utrecht, in Woudenberg, on Aug. 20, 2022. (Koen van Weel / ANP / AFP via Getty Images)
Several hundred farmers demonstrate during the second stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race, 175 km between Bolduque and Utrecht, in Woudenberg, on Aug. 20, 2022. Koen van Weel / ANP / AFP via Getty Images
It can’t be stated often enough that the generation of electricity only contributes 32 percent towards greenhouse gas emissions. 
Transport is 18 percent and agriculture is responsible for 14 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. 
So the emissions for transport and agriculture are 32 percent, about the same as for electricity generation. 
So what happens to agriculture here, as in the Netherlands?
If you want to reduce emissions in line with this absurd Paris target, you will have to reduce the number of animals. 
Get rid of 28 million beasts, dairy cows, beef cattle, pigs, and sheep, because the prime minister told the 34 suited OECD Members, that fighting climate change must be at the heart of global cooperation. 
Prime minister, tell our agriculture sector and our transport sector what that will mean, because if you can’t, change your story. 
But back to the Netherlands and a bloke by the name of Geert Wilders. 
This is a bloke who has been laughed at in Europe, famous for his campaigning against immigration, the European Union, Islam, and climate change, especially the nonsense about climate change and reducing herd numbers. 
There was a general election on Nov. 22 in the Netherlands—are you listening Albo?—and Mr. Wilders is set to become the next prime minister. 
I should point out that the Netherlands is not really Holland. 
The Netherlands consists of 12 provinces. 
Many people use Holland when talking about the Netherlands, but two provinces represent Holland; the 12 provinces are the Netherlands. 
Mr. Wilders will now have to persuade potential coalition partners to work with him.
Workers prepare to remove an election sign of Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders near the Binnenhof, a day after the Netherlands general elections, in the Hague on Nov. 23, 2023. (Robin Utrecht/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)
Workers prepare to remove an election sign of Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders near the Binnenhof, a day after the Netherlands general elections, in the Hague on Nov. 23, 2023. Robin Utrecht/ANP/AFP via Getty Images
He has been in the parliament since 1988. 
He was part of the Centrist VVD Party but he quit that and set up his own Party for Freedom, in 2006. 
He has described Islam as a totalitarian ideology, his aversion fuelled by the assassination of the anti-Islam filmmaker, Theo van Gogh, in 2004; as well as the time he spent in a Kibbutz in Israel. 
His election program called for a ban on the Quran, mosques, and all Islamic schools as well as on Islamic headscarves in government buildings. 
His anti-Islam rhetoric has made him a target for extremists and he lives under 24-hour protection. 
He says he will stop “the asylum tsunami” which he has blamed for various social problems, including the Netherland’s housing shortage and high health costs. 
He is critical of climate “scientists” and believes that the government has spent too much on reducing carbon dioxide emissions. 
He has advocated that coal and gas power stations remain open and proposes to halt the construction of solar parks and wind turbines; and he wants the Netherlands to withdraw from the UN’s Paris Climate Agreement. 
This is all part of an encouraging alteration of Europe’s political landscape. 
It is happening in Italy, Germany, and France or, as Hungary’s Viktor Orban, has said, the winds of change are here. 
Interestingly, Mr. Wilders is a firm backer of Israel and advocates shifting the Netherlands Embassy to Jerusalem, which the Morrison government did and the Albanese government has revoked. 
Following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Mr. Wilders argued, “Israel is fighting for its existence against the forces of hate, barbarism and terrorism.”
In a highly fractured electoral system, Mr. Wilders does not have enough seats to form a majority in the Parliament, without other parties, parties who have kept Mr. Wilders out of government for more than a decade.
But the scale of his victory will strengthen his hand in negotiations. 
But what he has been saying about immigration, asylum seekers, Islam, and, of course, climate change, carbon dioxide, and the banning of coal, Mr. Wilders is the latest outward manifestation of the fact that the winds of change are here. 
Way back in 1986, John Howard was Leader of the Opposition. 
All this stuff was going on with Labor, but the then much despised Mr. Howard, noting the political storm clouds ahead, said in July of 1986, “The times will suit me.”
Around the world, it is happening now. 
The times may well suit Peter Dutton. 
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Alan Jones
Alan Jones
Author
Alan Jones AO is one of Australia's most prominent conservative voices who now hosts his own program on ADH TV. Mr. Jones has an extensive career stretching back to the 1980s across radio, print, and television, and has been a major contributor to the country's political discourse. He is also the former coach of Australia's national rugby union team, the Wallabies, and has held major roles in sports and the arts. Mr. Jones was a former senior advisor and speechwriter to Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.
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