The media buzzed with news that Deakins Series curator Tim Flannery has switched his position on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and on carbon capturing.
The Australian reported from Flannery’s speech yesterday to green business that in terms of climate change Australia was “one of the wooden spooners”. Flannery came out strongly critical of Rudd. He told the Australian “Politics is all about trust. The only thing a politician’s really got to sell is his trust.” Flannery also mentioned that he was “unlikely” to vote for Rudd at this year’s election.
ABC Online thought Flannery “blasts [the] PM over ‘breach of faith’” while the Advertiser took it more personally as “Flannery accuses Rudd of climate betrayal of trust”. It may have something to do with the Moomba Carbon Storage facility planned for northeastern South Australia.
The Sydney Morning Herald focused on Flannery’s change of tack on carbon capture - the idea that carbon should be buried under the earth to prevent further damage.
It represents a real shift in Flannery’s thinking because he’s previously been an advocate of the controversial technology. ‘'I have been a great proponent of carbon capture and storage because I believed it was just essential particularly in places like China. But … the idea that coal is the future is a big problem for us.’'