Quarterly Essay 33

Quarry Vision: Coal, Climate Change and the End of the Resources Boom

Guy Pearse

Release Date:
March 2009
RRP:
$16.95
ISBN:
9781863953757
Buy Book

This is an essay about “quarry vision”, the mindset that sees Australia’s greatest asset as its mineral and energy resources – coal especially. How has this distorted our national politics and our response to climate change? What happens now that our coal-fired resources boom has gone bust?

In this powerful essay about the national interest, Guy Pearse discusses the future of the coal industry and argues with the economic orthodoxy. He exposes the shadowy world of greenhouse lobbyists; how they think, operate and skin cats. Quarry vision, he argues, is a carbon-laced trap and a blind faith and a mentality we can no longer afford.
 
Guy Pearse is a former member of the Liberal Party and was a speechwriter for former environment minister Robert Hill. He has also been an industry lobbyist, consultant and spin doctor. In 2007, after his research and concerns were dismissed by his political colleagues, he exposed the dirty politics behind Australia’s response to climate change on Four Corners and in his book High & Dry.

Correspondence

This issue also contains correspondence relating to the previous issue QE32 American Revolution by Kate Jennings. Correspondence relating to QE33 Quarry Vision will appear in the next issue.


About the Author

Guy Pearse is a former member of the Liberal Party and was a speechwriter for former environment minister Robert Hill. He has been an industry lobbyist, a consultant and a spin doctor. In 2007, after his research and concerns were dismissed by his political colleagues, he exposed the dirty politics behind Australia’s response to climate change on Four Corners and in his book, High & Dry: John Howard, Climate Change and the Selling of Australia’s Future.


Author Video

Guy Pearse in conversation with ABC Radio National's Peter Mares.