The federal government has blamed the interest rate rise on 7th November, just 17 days from the federal election on the drought. Yet this same government would strongly deny that there is any significant connection between the environment and the economy. Given recent findings that at least 50% of the effects of the drought in south-western Australia are due to human-induced climate change (Cai, 2006), does it not follow that greenhouse gas emissions are perhaps responsible for at least 0.125% of the 0.25% rate rise? This government’s extreme right-wing economic agenda has finally come back to bite them. And as voters take to the polls to elect a new Prime Minister on 24th November, John Howard might be realising that Nicholas Stern was right about the economic impacts of altering the earth’s climate system.
