UPDATED: More desperate emotional blackmail from Wong

No discussion of the science, you will note. Just thinly veiled threats if the crossbenchers don't play ball. Note to Steve Fielding: DO NOT SUCCUMB TO THIS KIND OF BLACKMAIL.

Crossbench senators thinking about voting down Labor's climate change legislation should consider how they'll explain the decision to their constituents, Climate Change Minister Penny Wong says.
...
"Every senator is going to have to front up to their electorate and tell people if they vote no, why they voted to ensure Australia's emissions keep rising, voted to ensure our carbon pollution keeps increasing, voted to ensure we continue to contribute to climate change," she told ABC TV on Wednesday.

I'm amazed she didn't go on to say "for the sake of our children, and our children's children, and our children's children's children... etc etc." For what it's worth, here's what I would say, if I were explaining it to my constituents:

The theory of anthropogenic global warming is flawed. CO2 emissions are rising, yet temperatures are falling and have been for nearly a decade. The climate system is clearly affected by factors which the IPCC models, on which the Rudd government's policy is based, do not include. Until or unless there is irrefutable proof that man-made CO2 emissions are directly causing dangerous climate change, I am not prepared to bankrupt our economy, and substantially lower the standard of living of all Australians, including you, based on flawed models which do not reflect reality.

Read it here.

UPDATE: Here's Penny Wong's latest "cracked-record" pronouncement on the theory of climate change:

Senator Wong has told ABC 2's News Breakfast there is no doubt human activity is driving climate change. [Yeah, "no doubt" if you live in a hermetically sealed bubble, keep your hands over your ears and shout "la, la, la" all day, which I'm beginning to think you probably do, or maybe it's because you're trying to force through this legislation irrespective of the science... I wonder - Ed]

"We've had 13 of the 14 hottest years in history in the last 15 years," she said. [Weasel Word Alert: "In history". What does that mean, Penny? Do you mean since the earth cooled, 4.5 billion years ago, or do you mean since 1851, when records began and the earth was emerging from the cold period known as the Little Ice Age, which, oddly, coincided with a minimum in solar activity, known as the Dalton Minimum? It's actually a porkie whichever, since the 1930s were warmer - Ed]

"Solar flares does not explain the phenomenon that we are seeing." [Simple as that - Ed]

Gee, I'm convinced. Read it here.