Abbott gov asked hard questions internationally - climate change policies

It all sounded so catchy during his election campaign. It was "Axe the tax" and "Direct action". Apparently climate change could be fixed by such brain dead slogans. So they went ahead and killed the carbon tax, and set about destroying renewables. The answer to all this axing and destroying was supposed to be "direct action", which nobody seems to know exactly what that means. 

Now the international community has woken up to Abbott's election facade and are (through the UN) asking the Abbott gov some extremely pointed questions about why the fuck did you axe a perfectly good tax that was well on target to reach Australia's emissions cuts demanded by the world? Since it's axing however Australia's emissions have only increased, with Australia now emitting more than any country in the EU except for Germany. 

The emperor has no clothes. These questions are not the sort of thing that an election slogan is going to answer.

Full list of questions here (PDF). 

These the main ones from the Canberra Times.

The US asked whether the emissions reduction fund was the main replacement for carbon pricing, or whether Australia planned to introduce other policies. 

Brazil accused Australia of having a "low level of ambition", and asked whether it would boost its target to cut emissions more quickly. It also said Australia had effectively reduced the pace at which it cut industrial emissions by expanding the number of agricultural programs included in its greenhouse accounting, summarising: "This kind of action seems to make the level of ambition lower, not higher." 

Both China and Brazil noted Australia's industrial emissions increased by more than 30 per cent between 1990 and this decade, and it was relying on accounting rules that reflected changes in emissions from the land to give it a chance to meet its targets. 

The European Union questioned whether the emissions reduction fund could deliver a 15 or 25 per cent cut by 2020 – targets Australia has said it would embrace if other countries did the equivalent. more