The phrase may well have been sourced by Abbotts quip-writing team from a comment by Jeremy Warner,assistant editor of arch conservative British daily,The Daily Telegraph.Warner wrote 3 years ago that " the carbon market is based on a lack of delivery of an invisible substance to no one"
Abbott's comments,parroted or not,suggest firstly that this Rhodes scholar who studied for an economics degree does not understand financial markets.
Leaving aside Abbott's Direct Action Policy...this issue goes beyond Abbott's understanding of financial markets.It tells us where he and his advisers source their information to frame their climate change policies.And as his "climate science is c*ap" comment revealed in 2009, it's. usually from the depths of the climate denier blogosphere.The depiction of CO2 as colourless & odourless,and by association harmless,is a favourite of such blogs i.e the Galileo Movement in Aust.& Climategate in the U.S.
You can spot the trend.
Abbott's ascension-courtesy of an influential group of conservative idealogues- mirrors the recent trend in the U.S where the Tea Party and climate denier influence in the U.S forces its candidates to row to the far right in pre-selection.So far right in fact that it's. impossible to regain the middle ground.
What this episode tells us is that Rudd is succeeding where Gillard failed.The P.M is peeling back the veneer of Abbott's leadership .No issue is so revealing as Abbott's real position on climate change,and Abbott has been caught dog-whistling to the climate skeptics and denialists that put him into power. The Guardian.