Today in Crikey Bernard Keane suggested that many young Australians were well and truly fed up with the government’s approach on climate change. In fact, he contended, many of them despair of any politicians achieving anything meaningful on the issue:

Don’t underestimate the sense of disillusionment and even anger among some young Australians, who don’t see this as an environmental issue but one of survival. The protests will become less peaceful, the actions more extreme and more disruptive, the longer politicians treat climate change as a playground for intra- and inter-party political games.

Keane pointed to actions to halt production at coal mines in the Illawarra (and we’ve already seen protests like this in Newcastle and the LaTrobe Valley in Victoria) as a sign that things are getting increasingly desperate. But for those of you who are really, truly, genuinely concerned about your future and you’re willing to back your concerns with direct action, there is an alternative available to you that should prove to be much more effective than just blockading a few trucks on the way to the coal mine.

You need to take this man out of the political picture.

Here’s a quote from Senator Steve Fielding today in response to the Greens’ proposed amendments to the government’s CPRS:

“I don’t know what planet the Greens are on, but by the look of their ‘Safe Climate Bill’ they look like they’re lost in space…

“If [Greens leader] Bob Brown and his hippy friends really believed in their cause, they’d ride their bikes to Parliament House instead of using the Commonwealth’s petrol-guzzling V8s.

“If we did what the Greens propose, Australia would no longer exist because there’d be no industries left to drive our economy.”

Another series of searingly insightful political statements from the man who once stood in the middle of a busy intersection in his jocks in order to drive home a point.

So kids, if you’re really serious about climate change, don’t tie yourselves to the nearest coal fired power station, tie this bloke to it instead.

For any chance of promoting meaningful dialogue, and subsequent action —  fast — on climate change in Canberra, this sausage has to be excluded from the conversation. Preferably before hell freezes over.