I heard something about the explosive new book High and Dry: John Howard, Climate Change and the selling of Australia's future a while ago but seeing the author on Lateline Business last night really brought home how wrong the present government are being on this vital issue.
According to his website:
Guy Pearse joined the Liberal party in 1989 and spent the past eighteen years studying environment policy and working in the political ‘dark arts’. He’s been an industry lobbyist, political minder, consultant and spin doctor. He wrote the speeches of Australia’s former environment minister, Robert Hill.
More recently, his PhD research exposed the self-dubbed 'greenhouse mafia' - a cabal of lobbyists working for our worst polluting industries. What Guy discovered about the pervasive control these industries have over Australia's response to climate change persuaded him to leave the dark arts behind to write High & Dry - his first book.
There's no footage up yet on the ABC website (though I'll keep an eye out and update when I find something) but this guy absolutely wiped the floor with the Howard government last night - detailing particularly the way that big business have been writing submissions to Cabinet about policy (something that is always otherwise done by the appropriate neutral government department).
The fact that the guy really looks like a Liberal as well (and for our O/S readers, don't forget that Liberal here is evil neo-con pretty well everywhere else) - slightly puffy and born in a suit means that he will be much harder to discredit.
Though apparently plans for this are already in the works - the usual whispering campaigns trying to cast Pearse as someone who wasn't really working there and so forth, when it is clear that he has the government nailed.
Just wait until Howard's trained attack sheep, the BAAA squad (Bolt, Albrechtsen and Ackerman) wade into the fray.
Here's a promo clip for the book for now
Update: The Lateline Business interview with Guy Pearse is now up on the ABC website.
Click here for the video
