This week, the world’s climate-obsessed leaders meet in Katowice in Poland in a desperate attempt to put teeth into the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. The desire is to move from the touchy-feely statements of the past about ‘saving the planet’ to a rigid, enforceable and ever-increasing transfer of wealth (and degrees of political sovereignty) from developed First World nations to our lesser-developed Third World cousins.

The economics are crystal clear. Those ‘wealthy’ nations committed to Paris must between themselves stump up 100 billion dollars a year to hand over to so-called ‘sinking’ islands and other economic basket-cases, er, sorry, we mean climate-threatened nations who feel that large transfers of Western cash (deposited into the appropriate Swiss bank accounts?) is just the salve they need to help them cope with imminent ‘climate-induced’ collapse.

‘It’s a matter of international justice that wealthy countries should help poor countries with mitigation, adaptation and economic development,’ says Australian Conservation Fund chief Kelly O’Shanassy. This is because, as a nation with a history of exporting coal, the imminent demise of the planet due to excessive carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is ‘our fault’ apparently.

Labor’s climate shadow minister Mark Butler has bought a one-way ticket on this guilt trip, proclaiming there is ‘justice’ in the Paris Agreement, insisiting: ‘Two crucial topics to be addressed for Australia include progress on international carbon-offset markets… and progress towards a just transition for workers and communities affected by the global energy transition under way.’ Just? So Labor believes Australians should be financially penalised for the past sins of our development? Is that what the once-proud party of the blue-collar workers who built this nation seriously think?

Meanwhile, a Climate Council spokeswoman tells the Australian newspaper: ‘Climate change is a threat multiplier, exacerbating other stresses like poverty, economic shocks and unstable institutions, making crises worse, particularly in poorer countries — with implic-ations for Australia.’ Really? And the evidence for this preposterous claim?

Naturally, there is none. And herein lies the rub. Whilst the economics are crystal clear, the so-called science has been so bastardised, so manipulated, the models so discredited, the claims so outrageous and the fear-mongering so ludicrous that no sensible, sober government could possibly agree to participate in this madness.

Intending it as a criticism, whereas in reality it is a compliment, Mr Butler goes on to lambast the government’s commitment to Paris as being ‘nothing but rhetorical’. Whew! If that is indeed the case, taxpayers can breathe easier.

Donald Trump is to be lauded for telling the truth about the IPCC dogma (‘I don’t believe it’) and in withdrawing from the Paris fandango altogether, saving his country billions.

To participate in Paris is to accept lock, stock and pink batteries the entire global warming myth, to accept that we share an ethical burden to redress the ‘sin’ of being a successful Western nation, to not accept that our insignificant little nation can do nothing to manipulate the earth’s temperature, and to accept the far-fetched assertion that the planet is heading irrevocably towards a warming apocalypse.

It’s time for the Morrison government to be honest with the people of Australia, and to put our economic interests and future prosperity ahead of this globalist, socialist-inspired, Doomsday fantasy. The Morrison government needs a cause to rally around that will be popular with those mainstream voters who have deserted it. And to distinguish itself from Labor.

It’s time to pull out of Paris.

Ciao, Bernardo

In these days of political correctness, virtue-signalling and research focus groups massaging film scripts, it is difficult to remember a time when Hollywood directors were at the vanguard of pushing the boundaries of libertarianism and freedom of artistic expression. Bernardo Bertolucci, who died on November 26, was a towering figure amongst Hollywood and European film-makers, who married Oscar-winning box office success with provocative, daring and beautiful film-making. Roll the credits.