"You can't accept that climate change is real, and still think that free markets can solve all our problems". So why opt for a market-based mechanism viz Emission Trading Scheme which allows for off-shore use of carbon credits instead of a carbon tax?
"Put simply..... They need to realise that markets are not infallible, and they need to develop a much more informed awareness about the strengths and weaknesses of markets."
Er the Right in Australia opposed our current banking laws, opposed regulation of business through such institutions as ASIC and ACCC?
Irrespective of whether man-made climate change is "real" or not, it would be remiss of any Opposition party not to argue against features of a Government policy which they believe has not been fully explained and may have,on balance, deleterious effects on the nation's people.

Nice article. Hit the nail on the head.
The Right has not a coherent philosophy, it is simply "Me! Me! Me!".
Democratic government is by the people, so the monopolists and exploitative capitalists naturally oppose too much power opposing them.
If they truly believed in free markets they would have opposed the bank bailouts and private health prop-ups currently being paid for by taxpayers. the Right frequently wants government intervention, they just believe the flow should go from many poor/powerless to the few rich/powerful. The religious viewpoint of "God put me here: He knows what He is doing!"...is typical and explains the complete lack of compassion from the Howard/Bush generation of the Right.
The cognitive dissidence theory does explain the older folks inability to accept real science: simply too hard to throw away cherished fallacies held for a life time just to compensate for new knowledge.
Runner: Ever wonder whey there was not a Global Ice Age Scare? Because the science *was* done! the science is continuing to be done by many countries and it all points to the same, scary thing. If anything the recent data points to more concern.
I'd like to see the Libs split: the far Right should declare itself a new party and half the Labour party can join them. That would leave the real Left to the Greens, and the genuine Labour candidates can join them. Perhaps we could even have a 3 party democracy? That would give the lobbyists and media some stress. (hard to pick/bribe a winner in a 3 way race!)
We live in interesting times!

“Accepting the reality of climate change and the consequent need for government action involves an acknowledgment that free markets are not infallible.”

Re not infallible

nor are so called “climate scientists” who rely on fallible computer models bodgie, discredited theories and dubious “peer review”

nor are the governments, who listen to egocentric scientists before they listen to the “market”

the freedom or otherwise (presumably the imprisonment of markets in regulation and government meddling) will make no difference to the certain fallibility of public policy.

Imho I have always found the experts in any field of human endeavour are never found in government but in the endeavour itself, often creating their own wealth, which is then taxed by and regulated by those who wield the power of government.

Thus, presuming that climate, human endeavour or anything else will benefit from “accepting the reality” of anything being insisted upon by government is a strategy doomed to failure, regardless what those who are supposedly motivated by the noble ideals of egalitarianism would have us believe.

“climate change is a result of the greatest market failure the world has seen.”

the world experienced ice ages in times before modern economies and human population.

Somehow I feel Mr Sterns allotment of “blame” could hardly be laid at the feet of any “market failure” for climate change in those times –

although I am open to listen to him try and prove how.

“it will remain a party incapable of addressing the challenges facing Australia.”

Conversely the challenges facing Australia are constant and little different to those of several decades ago, excepting the appalling failures of “the ideology of the left”, as observed in the collapse of USSR and its associated despotic tyrannies.

Like dearest Margaret said.. “Socialists have always spent much of their time seeking new titles for their beliefs, because the old versions so quickly become outdated and discredited."

The political pendulum will continue to freely swing……

From socialist hysteria and back to conservative reason…

I suggest the author get a shave and a haircut and find himself a real job

Isn’t it just perfectly obvious to any thinking person that the conservative free market fundamentalists are just completely out of touch with reality?

We’re talking about market forces that take no account of stressed resources or of environmental impacts, that are responsible for the continuous promotion of expansionism with no end in sight, which is of course crazy once the scale of operations and the population size become so large as to seriously impact on various quality-of-life factors, such as water supplies.

The free market leads directly to totally unsustainable practices! If free markets actually catered for existing populations and steadily improved their affluence or wellbeing, instead of battling (and failing) to provide the same level of affluence to ever-greater populations, then there might be some merit in sticking with free market philosophy.

Free market philosophy is such a crock of crap. It is no wonder that those who worship it also have another major mental condition regarding the denial of anthropogenic climate change and will, as the author suggests, resort to almost anything to uphold their insistence that AGW is bunkum!

What sort of an utterly insane market / economic system would just continue to take the demand side of the equation further and further out of balance with the supply side, instead of bringing them into balance?? The population continues to grow at a massive rate, while our ability to feed and provide a reasonable quality of existence is sitting precariously ready to rapidly decline.

The conservatives are dinosaurs! The Liberal Party urgently needs to override the Minchinites and Tuckeyites and get stuck into some progressive politics in line with the achievement of a sustainable future.

Unfortunately, they ain’t gunna do it with Mad Monk as their leader!!

Can someone save us from self important pompous idiots who make statements like this "Indeed, as pointed out by Nicholas Stern, climate change is a result of the greatest market failure the world has seen."

Climate change is not caused by market forces, climate change is a physical phenomena of the real world.

Nick Stern did not say that, you made it up and it is self evident you are an idiot, I am sick of tendentious pontificating fools like you.

What you probably mean you twit, is Anthropogenic Climate Change is caused by Market Forces.

There's a really big difference.

No one disputes that the climate changes, and you know it - but your sleazy little trick is to try to make out that anyone who doesn't believe in AGW also doesn't believe the climate actually changes - it's a cheap trick and doesn't work except on small minded people who probably hang on your every word in whacky little eco sects.

Eco groups are full of such fools who can be swayed into thinking that "wow, people really don't believe the climate is changing, I mean, wow, don't you go outside man and see that it is?"

What a jerk .. and this crapola comes from a think tank, I can see we have an interesting future if this is the standard of "intellectual thinking", but it's not is it, it's just some prat who thinks everyone is like the people who respond to AGW believer blogs.

jimoctec - Climate Change is real, Man Made climate change is rubbish, OK, do you get it yet?

No, an inflexible, lunatic, left is at it again. Labour only won the last election because of workchoices. Their anti business, anti family, pro child abuse policies are sending all the "John Howard Battlers" straight back to the conservatives, Tony Abbott is just the poster boy they are looking for. I have even heard people speak of resurrecting the DLP.