Joyce loses his nerve...

A bit of a hero of these pages, Barnaby Joyce has always been the voice of sanity in the climate madness of Canberra, but ACM is concerned by the following article in the Courier Mail, in which Senator Joyce appears to endorse some kind of ETS. As regular readers will know, any kind of ETS will achieve nothing in terms of climate, and everything in terms of destroying Australia's economy, employment, and competitiveness:

The Queensland Senator has revealed that on Monday he will likely back a new CPRS model to be released by the Coalition, which they say will be greener, cost less, give more concessions to coal, exclude agriculture and allow farmers to use their land to make money.

But in a thinly veiled swipe against Liberal Leader Malcolm Turnbull, Senator Joyce signalled he was looking forward more to voting down the Government's emissions trading scheme than selling the Coalition's new plan.

Senator Joyce said when the ETS was defeated next week, Nationals should get most of the credit.

"The only thing I have to worry about is the one (ETS) that I have to vote on," Senator Joyce said.

"I do not think Malcolm Turnbull will change her (Climate Change Minister Penny Wong's) mind.

"She will not accept any amendments."

Of course she won't. She inhabits a bizarre ivory tower into which nothing (not even common sense) can permeate. And our advice to Senator Joyce is to be very careful about giving even a hint of support for an ETS of any kind.

Read it here.