As October ends, the drumbeat of extreme weather events is deafening - the consequences of climate change, driven by the burning of coal, oil & gas.

This shocking weather must not become normalised.

Let’s take a closer look to understand just how far from normal we are. 🧵1/17 October began with flash floods and powerful downpours in New York city, a “new normal” NY Governor Kathy Hochul attributed to climate change.

Such devastation does not have to be ‘normal’ if we stop the problem at the source—phasing out fossil fuels. sbs.com.au/news/article/t…

Peaceful protest has been crucial to winning just about every right and freedom currently enjoyed by Australians - and so much we love and care about.
So how have two women ended up in the Supreme Court today, having to defend rights of peaceful protest?
🧵#knitting #nannas Earlier this year the NSW government passed regressive laws which could be applied to punish peaceful protest, so Dominique and Helen - represented by the wonderful crew at @EDOLawyers - have brought a constitutional challenge before the Supreme Court:
theguardian.com/australia-news…

BREAKING:
Huge numbers of Australians have owned, driven and trusted Toyota cars over the years, so this may come as pretty shocking..
Turns out #Toyota has grim record of greenwashing and lobbying against measures to reduce climate pollution from cars.
New reports out today..🧵 Toyota has been ranked dead last in the Auto Environment Guide for its lobbying against climate action, refusal to embrace electric vehicles, and continued advocacy for highly polluting hybrids: greenpeace.org/static/planet4…

This week people were angered to find that massive polluter @WoodsideEnergy is sponsoring parliament's midwinter ball.
It's just one tactic in Woodside's industrial scale 'reputation washing' strategy to enable it to keep on polluting. Thread…
🧵 #auspol
tinyurl.com/yywm7xsz Woodside’s problem is that it makes profit by mining and selling oil and gas - fossil fuels that are driving the climate emergency.
Indeed Woodside is now one of the ten biggest oil and gas majors in the world - and the only one based in Australia:
marketindex.com.au/news/a-merged-…

Lest we forget…
As the new Australian Parliament begins work, it is worth remembering that the last government led by @ScotMorrison was truly a ‘wrecking crew’.
Post-election revelations have reminded us just how much damage they did.
Here’s a thread…
🧵#auspol #wreckingcrew Infamously, Scott Morrison indicated to fellow believers at his church last weekend that it is right not to have trust in government. 'Wrecking crew' politicians want none of us to have trust in government. theguardian.com/australia-news…

Angry about yesterday’s State of the Environment report?
Well, there’s an opportunity to do something practical within the next 24 hours, by lodging an appeal against Woodside being allowed to extend massive fossil gas polluting operations until 2070.🧵
soe.dcceew.gov.au The background is that WA’s environmental agency (EPA) has recommended that this extension to Woodside’s vast pollution operations be approved - which would mean locking around 50 years’ more of climate-wrecking fossil gas extraction on a massive scale: theguardian.com/australia-news…

Hey @AngusTaylorMP you look surprised by the catastrophic flooding events.
Can this be because you have been ignoring the warnings about climate change impacts?
Here's a dozen or so expert warnings about increases in storms and floods that you may have ignored...
🧵: #auspol

https://twitter.com/AngusTaylorMP/status/1543803196774424576

The truth is that we have long known, for decades, that for each degree that our atmosphere warms, it can hold 7% more water. This causes heavier rainfall and in turn increased flood risk: int-res.com/articles/cr_oa…

This week's electricity price spikes are largely due to Australia’s continued reliance on dirty, ageing, expensive coal and gas.
This debacle has been years in the making.
The Morrison government failed to do its job and coal and gas vested interests fought change. 🧵#auspol While the price hikes are in part due to the cold snap increasing demand plus a global energy supply squeeze from the Ukraine war, the main culprit is the fossil fuel industry, which has persistently attempted to wreck Australia’s transition to cleaner, cheaper renewable energy:

Today, Australia’s largest domestic climate polluter @AGLAustralia abandoned plans to ‘demerge’, to keep burning coal until the 2040s.
Combined with last weekend’s election result, this is a watershed for climate action in Australia.
Let’s unpack what it means 🧵: #ausbiz #auspol @AGLAustralia is our country’s biggest climate polluter responsible for 10% of our annual domestic greenhouse gas emissions.
What happened today is totally unprecedented.
The restructure of a massive iconic corporation collapsed because of a failure to act on climate change.

Today I attended the @WoodsideEnergy AGM in Perth to hold the fossil fuel behemoth to account for its destructive gas expansion plans.
The AGM revealed Woodside's astounding arrogance, with execs disregarding expert analysis on its huge climate and financial risk. 🧵 #auspol For background, despite the IEA, among other experts, stating we need no new gas, coal or oil projects to reach net zero by 2050, Woodside plans to build the most climate-polluting project ever proposed in Australia off the coast of WA - the Burrup Hub.

Integrity and climate change are key #Election22 issues because the @ScottMorrisonMP government has failed dismally on both.
But what if they were actually the same issue?
To quote ‘The Wire’, everything is connected.
Here’s a thread…
🧵#auspol #wreckingcrew There is no doubting the Morrison government’s utter failure to deliver effective climate action.
There’s no credible plan, no credible target, no credible mechanism and a global reputation for obstruction.
Here’s an earlier thread which sets it out:

https://twitter.com/David_Ritter/status/1511465557950107649?s=20&t=F2cUf2mg_fsveSe0_iAajw

Today it was confirmed that 91% of the Great Barrier Reef was impacted by mass bleaching in 2022.
In light of this terrible news, it is worth examining in detail the record of @ScottMorrisonMP's government - and the failure to take action to protect the Reef.
Here's a 🧵 #auspol First, let’s remember: under the UNESCO treaty, Australia promised to do its 'utmost' to protect the Reef.
The Reef’s greatest threat is climate change, driven by burning coal, oil & gas. So our politicians have a duty to act on climate change to protect the Reef.

Turmoil at @AGLAustralia reached new levels this week, with major and costly power outages, and @mcannonbrookes buying a major shareholder stake and opposing demerger plans.
How has $AGL - a company with such an incredible history - reached this crisis point? 🧵: #ausbiz To start, a reminder - @AGLAustralia is our country’s biggest climate polluter. $AGL alone is responsible for almost a tenth (over 8%) of our annual domestic greenhouse gas emissions. To protect our climate it is imperative AGL shifts its business model.

Australia has been singled out by Transparency International for ‘systemic failings in tackling public sector corruption’.
Morrison government rorts have gone beyond individual scandals to become something far worse - the strategic wrecking of our system of government:
🧵#auspol In a previous thread I argued that Morrison & co are ‘wrecking crew’ politicians, actively trashing expectations of government and the idea of the public good.
In this thread, I’ll argue that rorting is core ‘wrecking crew’ behaviour.

https://twitter.com/David_Ritter/status/1508913485626830848?s=20&t=3Hi8Ds1fY3nc94oPJrNJAg

This week EVs emerged as a key #election2022 issue.
Australia is a terrible global laggard on electric vehicle uptake.
And if we stick with the current ‘strategy’ of @ScottMorrisonMP’s we are going to stay that way. Here's why🧵: #auspol First, the Morrison government has refused to implement fuel efficiency standards, requiring cars to become cleaner over time. This is a tried and tested EV uptake tactic & the bare minimum - adopted by more than 80% of the global vehicle market:
abc.net.au/news/2021-10-1…

This week the Morrison government appointed a bunch of ‘mates’ to key statutory positions. Much of the commentary has focused on nepotism - which is fair enough because it is pretty revolting.
But I reckon this is just another step in a deliberate wrecking agenda 🧵: #auspol First, some background. This week the Morrison government was criticised for appointing ‘mates’ to key public service positions. Some former Coalition MPs & staffers were given high-paying jobs on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, for example: sbs.com.au/news/article/g…

Yesterday, UN chief @antonioguterres singled out Australia as a climate action ‘holdout’ in the wake of the #IPCCReport & its call to urgently speed up emissions cuts.
Why? World leaders are fed up with @ScottMorrisonMP's ruinous history of inaction & blocking progress:🧵#auspol There is a long, dismal history of the Morrison ‘blocker’ government.
Basics first. The biggest cause of the climate crisis is the mining & burning of coal, oil & gas.
The govt has zero plans to actively phase out these polluting fossil fuels:
google.com/amp/s/theconve…

Overnight, #IPCCReport WG3, the 3rd volume in the blockbuster trilogy of global climate reports was released.
This one focuses on solutions and has some clear messages for Australian politicians.
Spoiler alert: @ScottMorrisonMP's track record comes out looking very bad. 🧵#auspol For context, WG1 updated the physical science while WG2 outlined the climate change impacts we are already experiencing, and can expect in the future. Think of it as volume one on what is happening, volume two on how bad it is, and volume three on our last best chance...

As we face more devastating east-coast floods, much of the commentary on the government’s abandonment of impacted communities has focused on @ScottMorrisonMP’s character & obsession with image management.
I reckon there's more going on - a deliberate wrecking agenda 🧵#auspol A decade or so ago, US commentator Tom Frank coined the idea of ‘wrecking crew’ politicians who - perversely - deliberately or recklessly seek to govern badly in order to advance an extreme ideological agenda: tcfrank.com/product/the-wr…

Right now, as the Great Barrier Reef faces a fourth mass bleaching in six years, @ScottMorrisonMP govt officials are actively lobbying @UNESCO against an 'in danger' listing.
FFS, how ‘in danger’ does the Reef need to be?
Here's 20 warnings that have already been ignored🧵#auspol The warnings of the terrible danger faced by the Reef from the climate crisis go back for many years, but it is in the last half dozen that the consequences of inaction have really accelerated, so let’s start there…

South Australia’s 47th premier @PMalinauskasMP has come to power in unprecedented times.
As the election took place, it was 40C degrees above normal in Antarctica. Climate emergency is here.
What challenges will SA face in the next four years? #auspol 🧵
washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/0… In a nutshell, because prior governments haven't acted on climate change, every new government around the world now faces the twin challenges of slashing greenhouse gas emissions at emergency speed and scale, while also taking action to safeguard people and nature from disaster.