Before my internet cut out this morning (oh my god how sick is everyone of tech not working) I spoke about this story this morning, and just wanted to share a few thoughts, because I think it raises quite a few issues: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/looming-soil-carbon-policy-could-disadvantage-the-best-farmers-20210215-p572n8.html

This story doesn’t connect to the international, but I think it’s really clear that the government is scrambling to look like it’s doing something before the major climate summits planned for this year, and so they have an answer when Biden comes calling.

That answer is going to be deliberately complicated. These policy questions descend quickly and easily into techno-babble. I know a fair bit about this and I had to read it twice, and I still don’t understand why it highlights measurement issues or what they are.

That’s a deliberate tactic! It’s used to obscure the big moral questions at play here, to suggest that this is outside the realm of politics. It is not.

I think it also points to a potentially significant shift underway in the Australian political landscape. A number of agricultural peak bodies have *already* committed to net-zero 2030 (not 50) because they see what’s happening internationally and don’t want to get caught out.

But the lack of actual federal policy is critical. These finicky technical policies are just designed to obscure the lack of action, so they can give long boring speeches pretending they’re doing something. Internationally, everyone is going to see straight through it.