Yesterday afternoon I watched the Palmer circus press conference where he more or less announced that he would agree to the repeal of the carbon tax, but only on condition that all savings are passed back to consumers, and that the Parliament legislates that Australia will participate in a future international ETS. In the meantime he would be voting against “direct action”.

At least that was my understanding of what he said – The Australian has the same impression.

My understanding of “direct action” has always been that it is a stop-gap measure between ending the carbon tax and participating in an international scheme (whatever that might be) – being seen to do something, but not actually doing much.

Yesterday’s announcement translates into:

We’re going to do nothing, until everyone else does something.

That has been my position all along, so well done Clive.

In the meantime Clive Palmer managed to get Al Gore to stand next to him and more or less provide legitimacy to a policy that Gore would abhor if he understood what Palmer has just done.

I think Jonathan Green summed it up:

Guessing that al gore is now available for birthday parties, hens nights, etc — Jonathan Green (@GreenJ) June 25, 2014

All very strange – but in one sense it lets everyone back away from the carbon tax with their dignity intact (except the Greens, but then they have no dignity). The tax is repealed, direct action never happens, and we agree to participate in an international scheme (something both major parties in Canberra would have done anyway) if and when it ever happens.