A glace through the so called ‘progressive’ media outlets today sees the celebration of Waleed Aly for comments he made last night on the Project, in relation to climate change.
Now, we all know that it really isn’t possible for so called progressives to talk about their hobby horse issues like climate change without demonising a conservative commentator along the way, and that’s exactly what Aly does – having a crack at Andrew Bolt.
But that isn’t my biggest issue with Aly’s sermon on climate change. My problem is that he misleadingly refers to the diesel fuel rebate as a “fossil fuel subsidy.”
Aly isn’t the first to do this, with such misleading references to supposed ‘fossil fuel subsidies’ becoming the fodder of the Green-Left. You see, calling the diesel fuel rebate a subsidy means that they can make those graphs that purport to show that fossil fuels are subsidised at much greater rates than ‘renewable’ energies, therefore justifying their calls for more taxpayer funds to subsidise uneconomic wind and solar.
Let’s be clear: The diesel fuel rebate reimburses farmers and miners for taxes that are used to fund the building and maintenance of public roads. They are given a rebate on these taxes for vehicular use which does not occur on public roads, and rightly so. Should we all of a sudden be driving electric or hydrogen powered vehicles, farmers and miners would still be justified in receiving a fuel rebate for road taxes.
It becomes clear that Aly’s argument simply does not follow. The diesel fuel rebate has nothing to do with “subsidising fossil fuels.” It is about fairness, and not requiring those who don’t use vehicles on public roads to pay key taxes for their maintenance. Providing a fuel rebate removes an unfair and unnecessary burden on farmers and other business, which means better productivity, profits, and of course, jobs. What’s more, it means we can get on with the job of developing renewal energy sources in the real world and economy, rather than some imagined socialist utopia.
Waleed Aly’s little caper over the diesel fuel rebate highlights perhaps what is the biggest problem when it comes to the discussion on climate change, and that is climate change activists continue to mislead the public. I will remain skeptical in relation to climate change alarmism while Waleed Aly and others continue to preach climate change doomsday with misleading information.
It’s the XYZ.