Wong refuses to budge an inch on ETS timing

It's like banging your head against a very large, very solid brick wall listening to Penny Wong. Nothing, repeat nothing, ever gets through. So we've hardly had a chance to draw breath after UN climate change bigwig Yvo de Boer said that we don't need to legislate the ETS before Copenhagen, and guess what Penny does? That's right, completely ignores it and ploughs on regardless, as she makes clear in this transcript from ABC's The World Today. Sabra Lane doesn't do a bad job of trying to get Ms Wong's icy façade to crack, but it's just no use:

SABRA LANE: Penny Wong, the head of the United Nations' climate change agency Yvo de Boer says it doesn't matter if Australia doesn't have an emissions trading scheme in place by the time of the Copenhagen talks in December.

That blows a pretty big hole in your argument, doesn't it?

PENNY WONG: Well look what Yvo went on to say was that these are matters of domestic policy and domestic issues. What the Government is saying to the Australian people is this - that we want Australia, Australian businesses to know how we will meet the targets we sign up to in Copenhagen. We think that is the responsible thing to do and that is what passing the legislation will provide.

SABRA LANE: But he was specifically asked if it mattered and he said quite honestly, no.

PENNY WONG: The Government's view is and it's a very logical position is that a failure to legislate does weaken our negotiating position.

We have to look at the national interest. We think it is in the national interest to ensure that we have a way of meeting the targets we sign up to and when I as Minister and in Copenhagen, I want Australians to know how we can meet the targets that we will be committing to.

I am utterly sick and tired of listening to the same old nonsense from this arrogant, self-satisfied, self-opinionated, out of touch government.

Read it here.