There is no doubt that Abbott thinks it is 'complete crap', quite apart from his words (which shift and change to meet his political goals), his actions speak loudly about what he believes.
As opposition spokesman Mark Butler highlights, the tide of international opinion has turned against Abbott. He has taken us from leaders to laggards (and luddites) in a very short space of time. And with the prospect of the US implementing an emissions trading scheme, this will rather ironically damage our exporters. The Liberals... good for business... in other people's countries.
Overnight the US announced serious action on emissions. Abbott is out of excuses. But who needs an excuse when you have a bagful of bold faced lies to rely upon. Besides, it's much easier just to exclude it from the G20 agenda.
Abbott has created a conflict of interest for Dr Brian Fisher... a man who is on the panel which is reviewing the need for a Renewal Energy Target, but also a man who provided economic modelling work to the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association in order to bolster their calls for the scrapping of Renewable Energy Target. It's a bit like a lobbyist for the fast food industry being tasked with the establishment of a healthier eating website (why does that sound familiar Fiona Nash?)
We also have Greg Hunt misrepresenting the achievements of ARENA. By seeking to conflate issues faced by the Solar Flagships program (the two are not related, instead one followed the other) with the many and significant achievements of ARENA, Hunt has used this as a confusing argument for the abolition of ARENA itself. Hunt is a very dishonest Environment minister, so this should come as no surprise.
John Connor from the Climate Institute gives an excellent analysis of the flaws in the government's plans, and provides a sense that the entire scheme has been set up to fail. If that is the case, it would be entirely consistent with the behaviour and belief system of so many of those helping the Coalition formulate their policy. Connor's analysis predicts a 9% rise in emissions (a long way from the 5% reduction target). It also predicts that if the government is serious about meeting its target, it will require a massive increase in spending or a big change in the regulatory framework in 2019 and 2020.
No one believes that will happen, except the pixies at the bottom of Greg Hunt's garden.
Goldman Sachs sees continuing declines in the coal industry, which will lead to mine closures and job losses in the industry. According to the investment bank this decline will come on the back of changes to the regulatory environment, increased competition from gas and renewables, and improvements in energy efficiency. Based on this kind of uncertainty, no business will invest in new coal fired power capacity or even upgrade existing facilities. This in turn begs the question... why expand Abbot point? Especially given that river sediment is causing more damage to the reef than first thought, let alone the dumping of massive amounts of dredge spoil.
Even the short term outlook for coal is bleak... as miners Rio Tinto and BHP admit we will see more job losses and mine closures before the end of the year.
Given that outlook, what competent government would continue to support and hold out hopes for the coal industry? The answer is no competent government... sadly neither the Newman nor the Abbott governments are even remotely competent.