When it comes to anything to do with the environment, Crikey is full of people who know all about proselytising and two-thirds of sod all about process, policymaking and politics.

Kevin Rudd has only been sworn in for a week and a day but has apparently already sold out by not immediately committing to a post Kyoto target for emissions.

These people are utopians. Kevin Rudd is a social democrat. He is well aware of the economic impact of some sudden, swathing cut to emissions, let alone its social justice implications. While groups such as Anglicare have raised concerns, we hear less than two-thirds of sod all from the utopians on how poorer people are supposed to deal with increased power costs.

Kevin Rudd is also a former senior bureaucrat. He has commissioned a report by Ross Garnaut on the impacts of emission cuts. He is scarcely going to pre-empt that. Kevin Rudd is simply doing what he always said he would.

The official name of the Bali summit is the Framework Convention on Climate Change.

To use Rudd’s words, its purpose is to agree “on a road map for the next couple of years, within which countries then embark upon long-term commitment.” The PM says “Australia has taken its head out of the sand and it now wants to be part of the solution, not just part of the problem.” He has outlined the steps to follow.

“Step number one from the Government of Australia has been to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. We hadn’t done that before. Step number two is to be fully around the negotiating tables in Bali, to be part of the negotiating process. Step number three is to agree on a negotiating timetable. We believe we can make constructive steps forward in each of those areas.”

Rudd says “the challenge for Bali is to make sure that everyone enters on to the same page for negotiations over the next two years.”

Process rules.

Rudd is not going to jeopardize his re-election prospects by signing up to deep mandatory cuts in emissions which will hurt the economy and his beloved working families. He is not going to pre-empt his own enquiries.

Clive Hamilton and Co better get used to that. The environmental NGOs made life hell for Howard, but they will not be able to do the same to Rudd. It will be harder to begin with because Rudd is not a sceptic. And Rudd also has his climate change voodoo doll Peter Garrett to ward away evil activist spirits. Use Garrett as a backdrop for his news grabs and the criticisms of the greenies will have no impact.

The sooner the utopians wake up to this, the better.

First, Hamilton identified the “greenhouse mafia” as the cause of his and his colleagues’ failure to dictate climate change policy. Yesterday in Crikey it was DFAT. Who next? There’s always someone looking to conspire against Clive and his plans for a happier planet. There’s also always process, policymaking and politics.